X-MAN SCREENPLAY


Brian R. Lundin


EXT. STREET ON CHICAGO’S SOUHSIDE

The dark sky was highlighted by a full moon as a heavy snow mixed with rain silently covered the streets. Wearing a black hoodie and black sweats Esau Sneed slowly walked on the sidewalk, stepped over a pile of dogshit and stood behind a large tree on the dark and deserted street. He looked up at the second floor apartment of the old, rundown apartment building at 4555 South King Drive; he checked his watch, 10:00 pm. He watched the young woman silhouetted behind the thin curtain by a bright light. She wore only a bra and panties as she walked around her apartment holding the telephone between her shoulder and her chin while combing her hair.

INT. SECOND FLOOR APARTMENT

The young women suddenly wakes-up, rubs her eyes and looks around the apartment as she slowly gets out her bed, puts on a nightgown and tiptoes to the window and shiver. The strong wind blowing off Lake Michigan slammed the rain and snow against the window and she jumps back. Shaken she quietly walks into the cluttered front room and noticed the front door night chain dangling. She secured the chain to the lock and looked around before heading into the small kitchen, got a bottle of water out the refrigerator and sipped it as she walked into the bathroom. Suddenly a strong hand was around her neck, she couldn’t breathe, she tried to scream but no sound came out. She struggled trying to free herself but the hands tighten around her neck, she felt herself being dragged into the bedroom, and then there was darkness.

INT. SECOND FLOOR APARTMENT-BEDROOM

YOUNG WOMAN POV-
A splash of cold water against her face awakens her. As she regained consciousness she recognizes the scent of Irish Springs the bed perfume she uses and realized she was in her bed. He eyes focus on her body, her gown had been removed and she laid spread eagle, her feet, arms and mouth was bound by duct tape. She began trembling as tears flowed down her cheeks. She hoped she was dreaming, a nightmare from which she would soon awake but then she saw a naked blurred figure slowly moving across the darken room and she smelled a musty odor. She felt his presence as he got closer to the bed and stood over her. She heard his heavy breathing as he slowly checked the heavy gray tape.

ESAU (SMILING)
You want me don’t you? I have seen you watching me at the heath club and I saw the lust in your eyes.

YOUNG WOMAN POV-
STRUGGLING ON THE BED, CRYNG.

ESAU POV-
He looked at her brown thighs and shaven pubic area. He noticed how her frighten eyes attempted to see him but he knew it was too dark.

YOUNG WOMAN POV-
She watched in horror as he rubbed her thighs and breasts and inserted in finger into her and gently moved it around. She felt her moisture and felt his nude body on top of hers.


ESAU (SMILING)
You ready for me Peggy?

YOUNG WOMAN POV-
Tears flowed down her cheeks as she violently shook her head and her mouth became dry. She felt his hands raising her buttocks, she tried to turn her body but couldn’t.


ESAU (WHISPERING INTO HER EAR)
Now I will give you what you want,” he said as he passionately entered her, raising her buttock higher as he plunged deep inside her.

YOUNG WOMAN POV-
She felt the hardness and size of his penis as he plunged deeper and harder into her. Finally, he heard him groans as his body shook violently and she felt his fluids going into her. Tears flowed as she clenched her teeth and closed her eyes. When he was finished she felt his clammy hands moving over her shaking body, his finger searching for her clitoris as he put his lips on the tape covering her mouth. Suddenly, she was hit hard upside her head and she felt herself losing consciousness, her senses became blurred and her head hurt. Maybe someone saw him as he broke into her apartment, maybe the police are on the way, her silent prayer asked.

ESAU
No one is coming Peggy, it’s just you and me. The man struck her again and dragged her unconscious body into the bathroom and gently placed her on the floor.

INT. BATHROOM

YOUNG WOMAN POV-
When she opened her terror filled eyes she looked at the little man and pleaded with him to let her go. The man smiled as he wrapped his hands around her slender throat and he squeezed and squeezed until her body went limp. He popped open a switch blade and plunged it repeatedly into her chest causing her blood to spurt out over the walls and bed. The young woman dead eyes opened and locked on his. He felt a stirring in his loins as he looked at her naked, ripe young body.

ESAU
You want me again, huh,” he said as he mounted and entered her again. After he finished he carefully placed her body in the bath tub, folded her arms across her chest, turned on the hot water and tied a pair of her panty hose around her neck. The man closed his eyes as he covered his hands with her blood and smeared it on the walls. On the medicine cabinet mirror he painted a large bloody X. After washing the blood from his body and hands he took out a Polaroid camera and snapped a picture of Peggy and quietly left.
INT. O’HARA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT-DAY
Flight 360 landed at O’Hara Airport at nine in the morning. It had been a long bumpy flight from the FBI Academy in Quantico Virginia where Chicago Police Sergeant John Ringo had spent the last two days brainstorming with the Behavioral Units profilers. While at the Academy he had received a call from lieutenant, David O'Shea and told that there had been another killing. Ringo was anxious to get to the scene, maybe this time the killer had left a clue, and had made a mistake. He removed his overnight bag and cane from the overhead compartment and waited as the first class passengers departed, ten minutes later he was limping down the long airport concourse and noticed a black woman holding the hand of a small boy and as we passed Ringo winked and the child looking back returned the wink and gave a gap-tooth smile. Suddenly the child let out a loud laugh and I looked back and saw the child struggle loose from the woman’s grip and laughing run into the arms of a well-dressed man. Ringo watched as the two embraced and continued on. Was there anything more magical than a child’s laughter he thought and for a brief moment felt depressed. Growing up as an only child he always wanted a big family with lots of children running around the house causing havoc, but his wife Elizabeth was too busy, first going to college to get her Master’s Degree in Business Administration and then working her way up to becoming a Vice President at Abbott Laboratories, one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. She often told him about how she hated his job, the late nights and the violence. We both knew that he could probably get a higher paying job as a college professor or researcher, but John Ringo loved being a police officer and on more than one occasion was told that he loved my job more than her. He guessed that it was only a matter of time before their marriage fell apart, she had her priorities and he had his. But right now his slight depression or my marriage had to be put on hold, the X-Man had killed again and that was all that mattered. He maneuvered my way through the arriving and departing passengers his mind elsewhere. He didn’t want to believe that it was the works of the same man or rather the same monster that had brutally killed five other young, black women. He had thought about little else on his flight back from the academy. I reached the automatic doors of the men’s washroom, pushed the button and entered. He splashed some cold water on my face and rubbed briskly. He pulled a paper towel from the dispenser wiped his face and looked in the mirror. His eyes were blood-shot and he needed a shave, his dark skin was still taunt, but he looked tired and older than his thirty-three years. Long ago he decided he looked better with a baldhead rather than a head of premature mingling graying-hair. He went into one of the stalls, sat on the stool and raised his left pants leg and looked at the ugly scar that ran from his calf to my his ankle. He removed a small jar from my pants pocket and gently rubbed the medication on the scar and quickly left the wash room and hurried outside, he had to get to the latest crime scene and hoped that the scene had been correctly preserved and that possible evidence not destroyed or disturbed. Curious police officers often would arrive at the scene and walk around, unintentionally destroying or disturbing valuable evidence. Precious hours had been lost and he understood the importance of examining the crime scene as soon as possible. As he exited the men’s room and looked into the sea of hurrying people and wondered if he was among them, if he was here searching, hunting for another victim, could any of them provide him with an answer, but, he was the hot-shot homicide detective sergeant considered the expert, people looked to him for answers, he was the one with a Doctor’s Degree in Criminology from the University of Virginia and considered by the big brass in the Chicago Police Department as their ace homicide investigator and he knew he was ultimately responsible for catching the killer the media had dubbed the X-Man and he also knew he would take the heat if the X-Man was not caught soon. The police department hated the term serial killer because it scared the shit out of the citizens who began arming themselves and forming neighborhood watches. Every time the X-Man struck the media had a feeding frenzy giving the name of the victim and address. Since all of the victims were black and lived in Bronzeville, the neighborhood preacher and civil right activist accused the police department of not during enough because they were black and poor, but he knew better, the department was doing all it could to catch the X-Man, but just hadn’t got lucky, he would make a mistake, something dumb, like dropping his wallet in the victim’s home, or like Ted Bundy getting stop for a traffic violation, and he knew that often luck was just as important as investigations. His partner Evetta Lunden was doubled parked at the curb and she waived as I came out the door.


KENNEDY EXPRESSWAY
Serious rain and snow had arrived, cold and unannounced; causing overworked storm drains to back up, flooding basements and in some of the poorer area in the city the streets were assailed by filth. Auto collisions played a drumbeat on the urban streets as impatient drivers hurried to get nowhere. I threw my bag into the back seat, climbed into the unmarked Crown Victoria and slammed the door. Evetta switched on the wipers put the car into gear and the tires whined on the wet pavement as she pulled into the maddening O’Hara traffic. The black unmarked Ford sped down the slick expressway, the wipers going full blast fighting the backwash from the semis and the rain. The heavy rain had replaced the snow and was punctuated by flashes of thunder and lightning adding to the traffic congestion, even at this time of the day. We sat in silence as I laid my head back on the headrest and closed my eyes.

JOHN RINGO
Is it him?

EVETTA LUNDEN
We think so, same MO.

JOHN RINGO
Vic?

EVETTA
Peggy Smith twenty-five, 5’3”, 110 pounds, short black hair and dark skin, no known boyfriends, worked as a clerk in Black Pride bookstore on 51st Street and was a source of joy and help to her mother, Katherine and her Alzheimer afflicted father, Robert. Peggy was found yesterday after the maintenance man went to investigate foul odors coming from the apartment, saw her door opened and went in to investigate, he found her in the bathtub at her Ist floor apartment, where she lived alone, at 5225 South Prairie Avenue estimated time of death between 2-3 am rainy and snow and she was a member of Melony Fitness Center in Dolton, Illinois.

RINGO
Let’s go to the scene, ok and what’s the lieu saying?


EVETTA (SMILING)
The little general is in his usual tissy, with his no-nothing ass, getting in the way, fucking things up. He’s got the best detectives in the department and he won’t leave them alone, and giving the standard line of bullshit to the media and waiting for you to hurry back,

RINGO (LAYNG HIS HEAD ON THE BACKREST AND SIGHING)
You know all of the murders seem to be random and senseless, Wake me when we get there.

EXT. 5225 SOUTH PRAIRIE AVENUE
Evetta nudged me as she parked the car next to a three flat depressing looking building two doors down from 5225 South Prairie Avenue I awoke and looked around.

EVETTA (HOLDING A WHITE STYROFORM CUP)
Here, I thought you might need this,

RINGO (REMOVING THE CAP)
If you weren’t married to my best friend and I wasn’t the godfather to your three boys, I would hit on you.

EVETTA (LAUGHING)
And I wasn’t damn near old enough to be your mama.

RINGO (TOSSING THE CAP OUT THE WINDOW)
Who else is assigned?

EVETTA
Numnuts assigned Marcus Burke as the lead detective until you came back and Charley Turner, lead I.D. Tech. Turner was as grouchy as ever, but as usual very careful. He shot color and black and white photos and videotapes of the Vic and the apartment, sketched a floor plan that showed all angles of the apartment and the bathroom and filled out a VICAP report and a death scene checklist. The Medical Examiner Office sent Doc Dixon, their chief pathologist, Doc Dixon examined the body. The cause of death was strangulations but lacerations were found on her scalp, results of a blow with a blunt instrument and she was raped before and after death. Everything else in the apartment was in order but like the others, all of her underwear was missing.

RINGO
This guy is getting quite a collection of women panties and underwear, maybe he planning on opening up a ladies underwear boutique.

EVETTA
Must be the only thing taken is the victims underwear. Charley found some open and unopened mail in her bedroom and a three day old Sun-Time Newspaper, O'Shea ordered everyone not to touch anything we didn’t have to and you can go from there.

RINGO
Fibers, hair any kind of trace evidence.

EVETTA
Charley vacuumed the entire apartment, we’ve got six bags, and it’s at the crime lab.

RINGO
Ok, let’s do a walk-around before we go in.

EXT. ALLEYWAY BEHIND 5225 SOUTH PRIARIE AVENUE
Evetta gathered up the folder and the clipboard. The snow and rain had stopped and we walked north on Prairie, turned right at the corner and walked the half bock to the Chicago Transit Authority Elevator station and entered the alley. The smell of rotten garbage, dog shit and decaying rodents were accentuated by the cold wind. A Chicago Transit Authority elevated train came to labored and noisy stop at the 51st Street elevator station and showered the alley with dust and sparks; we waited until the train moved on. This area of the city three miles from downtown and two miles from the expensive high-rise apartment buildings overlooking Lake Michigan consisted of ancient derelict tenement buildings, boarded up businesses, Arab liquor stores and storefront churches. Stray alley cats could be heard scrambling towards the overflowing garbage cans as the rats some as large as cats, hurried away. The alley creatures ran towards building openings and the cats hissed as they took flight after their prey,

EVETTA (WHSPERING)
I don’t think they like cops in this neighborhood.

RINGO (WATCHING THE HOSTILE EYES IN THE ALLEY)
I agree.

They passed a fenced- in yard and a large pit-bull secured to a heavy chain came from somewhere growled and attacked the fence with a fury. An old woman with different colored rollers in her thin gray hair and wearing an oversized pink and yellow house dress with a pair of mismatched house slippers that covered her ashy bare feet and carrying a garbage bag, smacked the large beast with the back of her hand. The animal whimpered and lay on the ground. The woman eyed me and Evetta suspiciously and removed the lid on the garbage can. Large black flies flew out the can and she casually waived them away. Evetta nodded and smiled at the woman but she looked away. As we continued down the alley I could feel her eyes watching us.

RINGO
Remind me to have someone interview her, people think that serial killers jump out the bushes and grab their victims, but most of the times it is someone they know; a co-worker, the mailman and an old lady like that that have nothing else to do but look out their windows might have seen something.

EVETTA (MAKING A NOTE OF THE ADDRESS)
I read that the Summerdale Sandal that happen nearly fifty years ago was the result of a old lady going to the bathroom to pee, around three in the morning, looked out her window and saw the police officers placing stolen goods into their squad car.

Ringo and Evetta continued walking and stopped at a battered sign on a post that read, 5225. Ringo searched the entire area, looking downward. The rain and snow had eliminated any footprints and the back yard was littered with foul smelling, rotting garbage and discarded furniture. It began to snow again and the sky became an overcast gray. Ringo searched the perimeter of the small yard first, walking beside a worn wooded fence eyes trained downward and found nothing. They walked up the stairs to the rear wooden porch that had gaping holes in the floor and Ringo shook the door that showed signs of being jimmied but was unlocked, when I gently pushed the door open there was a creaking sound. After entering, Evetta took the floor plan out the folder and made a note of the noisy hinges. Something wasn’t right; inside the apartment was an unnatural quietness, someone was in the apartment. Ringo pulled out his .44 Magnum and put a finger to his mouth as Evetta pulled out her weapon.

A MALE VOICE (YELLING)
Hello, is someone there?

RINGO
Police!

FADE IN:
An elderly man wearing overalls come into view.

EVETTA (GUN AT HER SIDE)
Who are you?

ELDERLY MAN (VISIBLY SHAKEN)
I’m the building maintenance man, the police told me I could come and clean the apartment

RINGO (Holstering the weapon)
We’re conducting an investigation, give my partner your name and address and we’ll notify you when you can come back.

Man gives the information to Evetta and hurry out the apartment.

RINGO (removed two pair of disposable surgical gloves from his front pants pocket and give one to Evetta.)

FADE IN:
It was a plain, stark apartment, smelling of disinfectant and death. Shadows deepen in corners as we entered the small, clean and tidy kitchen. There were a few pieces of unwashed silverware in the sink, a wood table surrounded by four chairs that held a bowl of artificial fruit and a grocery store receipt. Shaded masks of black fingerprinting powder covered most of the items in the room. Putting on latex gloves, Evetta carefully opened the refrigerator and made a note of its contents; orange juice, butter, mustard and mayonnaise, a six-pack of Miller’s Lite beer and a half filled bottle of white wine. The refrigerator freezer contained a bag of spoiled neck bones, ham hocks and salt pork; she wrote down the expiration date of the items and closed the door. In the cabinet over the sink was a two-pound bag of pinto beans, two cans of mild chili beans, box of cornflakes and nothing else. On a counter was a coffee maker a two-slice toaster and a small microwave oven. Evetta noticed that there were no curtains on the kitchen window; I peered out the window on the south wall at another drab looking apartment building.

RINGO
She must eat out a lot

EVETTA
Or can’t cook
FADE IN:
We walked through a small hallway and into a small living room that contained a brown cloth couch, two brown chairs and a 24-inch plasma wall television. Black dusting powder littered the curtain-less window frame and landing. The floor plan revealed that the window faced a narrow gangway between the buildings and was five feet from the ground. Looking out I wondered if the X-Man had stood on a box and pulled himself up.

RINGO
She must have been very private person, no photographs, and no personal items at all, where is the bathroom?

EVETTA (looked at the floor plan and pointed)
Down the hall on the other side of the apartment if our Vic was taking a shower or in the bathtub, she might not have heard anything

RINGO
Was the window broken?

EVETTA
Nope!

RINGO
The report states that the both doors were unlocked?
EVETTA
Yes sir
FADE IN:
Ringo lifts the window and it went up about a foot

RINGO
This is a pretty small opening for a man to crawl through

FADE IN:
We entered the victim’s equally bare bedroom that contained a queen size bed, a walk-in closet, a three drawer chest-a-draw, a nightstand and a small color television. There were no curtains on the windows that faced the gangway. Evetta carefully open the doors to the nightstand and found feminine napkins, cheap perfume, a half-filled cellophane bag of suspected marijuana and a dildo.

RINGO
The worst part of this job is the uncovering of people’s private lives. Murder has a way of bearing for the world to see and expose all of those private things we spend a lifetime trying to hide. The murder victim does not have time to bury or hide their little secrets; the victim is left unmasked and totally vulnerable

EVETTA
This reminds me of some cheap transit hotel room

RINGO
What do you know about cheap hotel rooms?

EVETTA (SMILING AND WINKED)
I wonder if she ever though someone would find her sex toy

FADE IN:
Ringo opened the fingerprint-dusted drawers; the top drawer was empty and noticed a smug on the top that had been dusted. The second drawer contained socks, neatly folded blouses, rent receipts and other papers. An empty trash basket sat beside the bed and I opened the third drawer and removed a dusted ledger. The ledger contained three columns of checks, checking account deposits and withdrawals another line contained credit cards payments and amount due.

RINGO (OPENING THE LEDGER)
She kept good books, and her last deposit of five hundred dollars was three days before she was killed, she had a balance of two thousand

EVETTA (LOOKING IN THE DRESSER DRAWERS)
Shit that’s more than I got. No underwear, no panties or bras


RINGO (WALKING TOWARDS THE BATHROOM)
Well, let’s wrap this up

FADE IN:
Ringo and Evetta walked towards Peggy’s bathroom her most private sanctuary, with every step they moved closer to the deadly confrontation and Peggy’s final moments on earth. I swung open the door of the bathroom and Evetta handed me the color photographs. Ringo loosen his tie unbuttoned the collar button and mopped his forehead with a handkerchief and placed it back into his pants pocket. The scene was well preserved and processed; the entire bathtub had been dusted as well as the floor, sink, commode and cabinet, inside the medicine cabinet was dental floss, toothpaste, more feminine napkins, aspirins and a toothbrush. Ringo leafed through the photographs, frame by frame; the first photo was a close-up of Peggy’s face. She had long black hair and what appeared to be a nice body. Her grotesque, bulging, oversized eyes were wide open in terror and her face was distorted, a pair of knotted black panty hose was wrapped around her neck and gray duct tape covered her mouth, the images seared themselves into my mind, just like the others. The next photo was a full shot of the Peggy, naked in the bathtub. Another photo was a downward shot showing a long, deep incision that ran from both sides of her neck crossing at the top of her vagina, and the tub was quarter filled with bloody water. There was a full shot of the bathroom that showed the blood on the walls and a blood smeared large x on the medicine cabinet mirror. I walked around the tub and reconstructed the scene like a Hollywood film director preparing to shoot a scene: the killer enters the bathroom; did she know him, was she waiting for him? Was she in the shower or taking a bath and before she could react he hits and stuns her? Did she falls or was she placed inside the tub, was she dead before he carved the x on her body, or alive and felt the blade as it sliced through her skin?


RINGO
Special Agent Wesnek of the FBI Profiler’s Unit who had created a psychological profile of the X-Man told me that most serial killers fits easily into a profile, certain parts of the five similar rituals homicides in Chicago points to a psychotic: a spontaneous unbalanced individual, who may have auditory hallucinations and claim to hears voices or claim that we are receiving messages and commands from God. He may be delusional, which could be influenced by his background or childhood experiences, but three other cases submitted have all the symptoms of someone who is a psychopath. A psychopath differs from a psychotic in that he can be functional, hold a job even have a family, but nearly all psychopaths have antisocial personality disorders and lack a conscience and are prone towards violence to others. They are extremely cunning, charming and calculating and have no regards for human life or suffering. One study suggests that psychopaths have a strong genetic component. The study demonstrates that children with anti-social behavior can be classified into two groups: Those acquired their criminal behavior by genetic influences, and those who acquired it from their environment. His preoccupations with deviant sexual fantasies of one kind of another dates back to his childhood, our study of your case believes that your X-Man is extremely dangerous and will keep raping and killing and it seems like you have an individual that exhibits both traits. Your X-Man don’t want to kill his victims immediately, that would ruin it for him, he got off on the fear of his victims and the medical reports indicate that some of your victims wounds and sexual assaults were per mortem, at or near the time of death. Did the killer knock Peggy unconscious and when she came too did he strangle her just enough for her to lose consciousness again, and when she came too again that when he finally killed her? Any evidence of masturbation or sperm in the bathroom?

EVETTA (LOOKING AT ANOTHER REPORT)
Nope

FADE IN:
Ringo backed out of the bathroom; drained.
RINGO
I know he is still out there, somewhere, searching for another victim. All of the murders had the same Modus Operanti or MO: all of the victims were young black female, between eighteen and thirty-five, all attractive and living alone, all had the large X smeared in the bathroom and all were found naked in the bathtub. All of the victims’ underwear was missing, no fingerprints or trace evidence, no evident of a relationship or association with the victims and all of the victims were raped. After the killings does he calmly walk out the door and leisurely walk down the street, maybe go to a bar for a drink and join a society that he has no use for?

FADE IN:
Ringo staggers and is held up by Evetta.

EVETTA (HOLDING RINGO)
Let’s get out of here

FADE IN:
Evetta drives to the Special Crimes Bureau located at 2900 South Western Avenue

EXT- SPECIAL CRIMES BUREAU
The ancient white stone building used to be a storehouse for CTA buses and was purposely chosen for it remoteness. It was a converted warehouse built in 1935. There were no signs indicating it housed an elite investigative unit that consisted of specially selected and trained detectives and four sergeants who called the place home.

INT-FIRST FLOOR
A large room where the walls and ceiling were painted the usual stale municipal off-white. The room contained cubicles with top of the line computers for the detectives, two interrogation rooms with a row of a bus- station type chairs bolted against a wall and in the basement had four holding cell for prisoners.

FADE IN:
Ringo and Evetta entered the building and waive at Detectives Marcus Burke and Charley Turner that both had telephones to their ears, their suit jackets hung over the back of their chairs and their ties were loosened. They were writing on paper pads lying next to the Chicago Sun-Times, the headlines read in bold print “X-MAN STRIKES AGAIN,” both Detectives distractedly waived back. A young black man sitting hands handcuffed behind his back sneered at another detective who looked up from his desk and pointed to the second floor.


EVETTA (WALKING TO THE COFFEE MAKER SITTING ON A TABLE)
Maybe you should leave your gun here

INT-SECOND FLOOR
On the second floor were six offices; one for the lieutenant, one for each sergeant and one for the departmental clinical psychologist and two civilian secretaries shared a large workstation, Ringo enters Lieutenant David O'Shea office.

RINGO (SITTING DOWN ON ARM OF THE COUCH)
You wanted to see me?

FADE IN:
The lieutenant sitting behind his desk was dressed in his trademark dark blue suit, white shirt and dark tie and with barely a word, pulled the door shut. The dull clattering of typewriters spitting out reports from detectives and the two civilian secretaries from on the other side of his office filled the room.


LIEUTENANT O'SHEA
Don’t sit on the arm sergeant

RINGO (STILL SITTING ON THE ARM)
Long night?
LIEUTENANT
Shit yeah, the chief and the mayor is under a lot of pressure about this X-Man bullshit and you ain’t done shit to catch him.

RINGO (Overlooking the slight)
Got a little insight into the mind of our guy from the FBI, but not much else.

LIEUTENANT
Fuck insight, I need results!

RINGO (GETTING OFF THE ARM AND CASUALLY WALKING TOWARDS THE DOOR
Me too.

LIEUTENANT
What the fuck are you doing to catch this asshole?

RINGO (FEELING THE BLOOD RUSHING TO HIS BRAIN AND HIS ANGER RISING)
(CALMLY)
Everything we can, sir

LIEUTENANT
Whatever you need let me know and by the way, the head of the FBI Behavior Science Unit called and volunteered to help in any way possible, but until there is some federal violation they have to remain strictly as advisors and if this is a serial killer, VICAP, their Violent Criminal Apprehension Program found two other Victims in Gary that match his MO. The Mayor’s office is putting all kind of heat on the Chief, he even suggested hiring a psychic from California, and can you believe that bullshit.

RINGO
They grow California psychics like a cash crop. Talk about a circus if the media get hold to that. We’re trying to keep a lid on this thing, but eventually we are going to have to let the public know that maybe there’s a serial killer out there and the last thing we need is the press getting hold of it an scaring the shit out of the good citizens, the word serial killer scares the shit out of most people and we certainly don’t need good people walking around with guns, we’ve got enough of that already but you know, that if these killings were on the north side, in Lincoln Park, Wrigleyville or Bridgeport, the people would be enraged, It would be on the front page of the Sun-Times and the Tribune, shit the mayor might even demand the governor sent out the National Guard, but who gives a fuck about some poor-ass black women.

LIEUTENANT
Let’s not make this a race thing

RINGO (HEADING FOR THE DOOR)
Everything in Chicago is a race thing

INT-JOHN RINGO’S OFFICE

FADE IN:
Ringo calls Evetta, Detectives Willie Burke and Charley Turner the lead I.D. Tech, and Medical Examiner Doctor Anthony Dixon, the medical examiner’s Chief pathologist to his office. While waiting he post colored 11x 14 crime scene photos of the victim on the wall board. Willie Burke is the first to arrive, Willie Burke looked like a movie star. He was over six feet, a solid two hundred ten pounds and had flawless coffee colored skin. He was wearing red and black Michael Jordan gym shoes, red and black Michael Jordan sweat suit, a large gold chain hang around his neck and a red and black dew rag is tied around his bald head, Evetta s next to enter.

EVETTA (SMILING AND LOOKING AT WILLIE)
I thought the lieu told you to dress like a detective, not a pimp or bang-banger.

WILLIE
Well he did, but I explained to him to get information you got to fit in and if he wanted me to get Intel on X-man, leave me alone. He just shook his head.

FADE IN:
Charley Turner and Doctor Dixon enter and take a seat. Charley had a stocky frame and a loud gravelly voice and he always looked like he was angry at somebody or something, but he could find trace evidence that others missed. Doctor Anthony Dixon was in his early sixties, maybe five feet tall and weighed maybe 140 pounds and was considered an expert in the field of forensic science. He was fastidious and seemingly had a hand fetish because he was always washing his hands and cleaning his spotless fingernails. The doctor took out a nail file and started cleaning his nails. He wore black pants and a white, heavily starched shirt and a pressed white laboratory coat with a plastic, pictured ID badge clipped to the top pocket.

RINGO
What we got doc?

DOCTOR
Not much, not a lot to tell you about Peggy, she was raped before and after death, she died of manual strangulation: suffocation, same as the others. So far he is sticking to his pattern; victims raped before and after death, propped up in the bathtub, numerous stab wounds and strangulation. In most murders if someone is shot it is remote but strangulation is personal this UNSUB wanted to torture and terrorize his victims. The cuts were per mortem, but made with a slender bladed knife and if I remember correctly the other Vics were cut up with kitchen knives. We didn’t get the body for two days you know, so it was hard to get too much. There were small traces of marijuana in her blood and we sent her handbags over to the lab but we found nothing under the nails or on the fingers. We found sperm which is being examined for DNA and hopefully our unsub, is in some DNA database, if not when we get a suspect we can check to see if there is a match, we’re still trying to determine if Peggy was killed while in the bath tub or somewhere else.

FADE IN:
As the doctor sat down the door opened and Monique Brown, the Department Clinical Psychologist entered. Monique Brown was very dark with keen features and prominent cheekbones, a trait inherited along with her coloring from her maternal great-great grandmother that was a full-blooded Sioux Indian and her great-great grandfather who was a runaway slave. She was witty, charming and most of all smart. She looked like one of the old Regal Theater showgirls, trim and athletic looking with a small waist, shapely legs and the haughty air of an Indian Princess, out of time and place, but royalty nonetheless. Her voice was soft and soothing and still had a charming North Dakota accent. Monique had the disposition of a patron saint and an easy way with people, which accounted for her success as the Department’s first black female clinical psychologist. Her deep black eyes were hypnotic and was rumored that she had hypnotized police officers and suspects. Police headquarters far removed from the Special Crimes Bureau is a combination of veteran police officers, aggressive young male officers and few female officers. It is rumor headquarters. Interdepartmental jealousies were the cause of most of the rumors, when someone started to advance, a rumor would surface to shed doubt on the qualifications of the person and some of these doubts however unfounded could linger in the minds of the most well intentioned officers for years and the rumors that had some validity could linger in the halls of police stations long after the subject of the rumor had retired or died.
Everyone at one time or another in the department was the subject of rumors. Lieutenant O'Shea was rumored to get his promotions because of clout, not accomplishments; Lieutenant David O'Shea came from a family of Irish Chicago Police Officers. His grandfather Sean was a body guard for the late mayor and his father William retired as a Deputy Chief of Detectives. The O'Shea family had always lived in Bridgeport, the democratic bastion of Chicago and the neighborhood of most of Chicago mayors. David lived next door to his widowed father with two daughters and wife. O'Shea was thirty-two years old, overweight and had a ruddy complexion that turned beak red when upset, angry or drunk. He was a little man under five feet eight the height requirement for police officers and it was rumored that he stood on his grandfather and father’s shoulders to meet the requirement. His sparse, thinning red hair was the same color as his scalp and there were deep wringles around his eyes. After graduating from the academy he was assigned to the Crime Analysis Bureau where he worked days, a straight forty hour week and off on weekends, whereas most rookie police officers were assigned to a district on the Ist Watch or midnight shift and never had a weekend off. Department regulations required an officer must have two years on the job to take the sergeant examination, so after exactly two years David took the exam and was promoted to sergeant. Unlike most newly promoted sergeants who are assigned to a patrol district usually on midnights, David was assigned to the Communication Center another soft job, two years later he was promoted to lieutenant and assigned as an administrative aide to the Chief of Detective, Donald Nash. Nash had been an aide to David’s father and was David’s godfather. When the Special Crimes Bureau, under the Chief of Detectives was organized, Nash assigned David as the commanding officer and he hand-picked five Irish detectives as his personal assistants Ringo got assigned to the Special Crimes Bureau because his aunt was a politically connected with a powerful black alderman. Rumors about Monique were varied, as rumors often are; rejected suitors who felt that if a woman didn’t fall for their tired lines she had to be gay, probably started some of the rumors, Other rumors alleged that she had gotten her well paying, soft position by sleeping with some high political or police department official, also never proven. Monique was the only member of the force who could act autonomously and as such was the target of rumors by a few envious women.

MONIQUE (WALKING IN FRONT OF THE GROUP)
I just received a fax from the FBI’s Criminal Profile Unit and it might interest you, they wired me a telex with all kind of qualifying statements, but what is interesting is that they interviewed fifteen sexual psychopathic serial killers deemed criminally insane and lust murders, and the most striking thing about most of their cases were the explosion of sadistic violence that went far beyond just raping their victims; carving symbols into their bodies, removing parts of the body and mutilations. They concluded that our Mr. X-Man is probably a sexual psychopath which, they defined as an individual that receive uninhibited gratification in criminal, sexual or aggressive impulses and the inability to learn from past mistakes, he is also a quiet, isolated individual with a schizoid personality and is charming, intimidating and use sex and violence to control others to satisfy his selfish needs. There are more questions than answers in this type of psychoses; some research blame it on genetics, others blame it on trauma, brain damage, but nobody knows for sure but what is known is that this type of personality is lacking in conscience and feels no empathy for his victims. He is probably black and can blend in with the neighborhood, in his early twenties and a bookworm. Psychopaths are glib and superficially charming, and many psychopaths are excellent mimics of normal human emotion; some psychopaths can blend in, undetected, in a variety of surroundings, including the corporate or business environments. There is neither a cure nor any effective treatment for psychopaths; there are no medications or other techniques which can instill empathy, and psychopaths who undergo traditional talk therapy only become more adept at manipulating others. The consensus among researchers is that psychopath stems from a specific neurological disorder which is biological in origin and present from birth; this may explain his fascination with women underwear and the use of panty hose as his kill tool. He probably had an intensive period of bedwetting way past the preschool age, enjoyed torturing and killing small animals and probably had an extensive juvenile record for petty crimes; shoplifting, truancy and violence towards other children and he may have had a problem establishing a sexual identity. He more-than-likely appeared immune from punishment and nothing probably seemed to modify his behavior so I would guess that the foster parents finally gave up and he was sent to another foster home and his behavior worsen. He has no real father to identify with and who knows what his foster fathers were like. He probably went through a period of being a peeping tom - a voyeur, maybe looking at the other foster girls as they dressed and undressed or he could have a testosterone imbalance like that sicko Richard Ramerez, the so-called “Night Stalker,” who raped and killed a lot of young women in the eighties. As he got older he may have had an unpleasant sexual experience with a prostitute, but here is what interesting, an older woman or young girl may have raped him at an early age and maybe he found a girl that he liked and thought she was interested in him, but only to find out later that she only felt sorry for him. This would have happened in his late teens or early twenties. He had a lot of guilt and tension developed around his sexual identity or lack of it and it has been building. He may have tried homosexual affairs that also went nowhere. So he dedicated himself to reading erotic magazines and books and became an insomniac, he may be hearing voices and/or misinterpreting reality, he lives in his own made-up fantasy world, where he is all-powerful and sexually potent. It might be helpful for you to know what kind of person you are dealing with and maybe helpful in catching him, which, I know you will, our guy thinks he’s super clever like that character in Silence of the Lambs, but he’s not as sharp as you guys. If this unsub is a sexual psychopath, which I think he is, rather than a psychotic, remembered he could be very charming especially to young impressionable women. He could be very attractive and is probably a pathological liar, a Ted Bundy type and has a grandiose sense of self- worth and importance. He is probably impulsive and is very, very angry and receives erotic satisfaction by killing and raping the women. He probably hates himself; he is willing to abandon his job, family and any friends if he has any. From the reports I’ve read he mutilates the bodies, carving an x into their chest and poses and props them up, he could be getting off from the act of killing itself. You’re searching for a very dangerous and sick individual that needs help, and I don‘t think he‘s going to stop killing. The sexual psychopath is one of the most fascinating and distressing problems of human experience. For the most part, a psychopath never remains attached to anyone or anything. He lives a “predatory” lifestyle and feels little or no regret, and little or no remorse - except when they are caught. They seek relationships, but see people as obstacles to overcome and be eliminated. He sees people in terms of how they can be used, he use people for stimulation, to build their self-esteem and we invariably value people in terms of their material value. A psychopath can have high verbal intelligence and have multiple personalities disorders, but he typically slacks "emotional intelligence," he can be expert in manipulating others by playing to their emotions . The lack of emotional intelligence is the first good sign you may be dealing with a psychopath. A history of criminal behavior in which they do not seem to learn from their experience, but merely think about ways to not get caught is the second best sign.

RINGO
Evetta in all of the killings you sad there were no indications of forced entry; no broken windows no kicked in doors, no fingerprints, no trace evidence, no nothing, correct?

EVETTA
That’s correct sir, this unsub is very, very careful and for some strange reason, probably as a souvenir, takes the victim’s underwear.

RINGO
Ok guys, let get to work

FADE IN:
As the team leave Monique grabbed my arm.

MONIQUE
Let’s go to my office.

FADE IN:
Ringo follows Monique into her office and looked at her framed diplomas from Duke University, pictures of her and her parents overlooking a deep canyon in the Grand Canyon National Park and a picture of a young girl. She turned on CD player and the wailing sound of Miles Davis filled the small room.

MONIQUE (POINTING TO A FOUR CUP ESPRESSO COFFEE MAKER)
Want a cup?

RINGO (SHAKING HIS HEAD AND FROWNING)
No Thanks, too strong for me.

FADE IN:
Monique pours herself a cup of coffee and walked pass me to her desk Ringo noticed her smell, sweet and tropical.

MONIQUE
Sit, please, you look worn out

RINGO (FLOPPED DOWN INTO A COMFORTABLE, HIGH BACK CHAIR)
Long day

MONIQUE (SIT DOWN, KICKED OFF HER SHOES, TUCKED HER KNEES TO HER CHEST AND LOOKED AT RINGO)
How is the case going?

RINGO (SIGHING)
Nowhere!

MONIQUE
How is Detective Ringo handling all this?

RINGO
Going along

FADE IN:
Monique sat down her coffee cup and walks to a file cabinet, retrieves a folder, sits down beside Ringo and crossed her long athletic legs. She smelled sweet and clean as if she had just gotten out a scented bath and maintained an erect posture that emphases her full figure, she did this without seeming pompous or vain.

MONIQUE
How do you deal, mentally and emotionally with all this violence? How can you function when you see people mutilated and murdered in all kind of grotesque’s ways?

RINGO (QUIET FOR A MOMENT)
It's what I do, somebody got to stop them, and somebody has got to be concerned about the victims and their families, to try to bring these families some sense of closure, some peace.

MONIQUE
You know this is a very sick individual and probably were abused as a child and have a thing against women. Do you blame yourself for not catching the killer?

RINGO
In a way, yeah I do and I don’t want to feel any sympathy for this man, I didn’t care what kind of unpleasant childhood he had I don’t feel sorry for him. Being a clinical psychologist you may look upon X-Man as a victim himself but to me he is a cold-blooded killer who has to be stop, arrest if possible but death more preferred.

FADE IN:
Monique looked at him briefly and the look had nothing to do with police work, as Ringo pushed opened the door, checked his watch and hurried from her office.

CHAPTER


FADE IN:
Esau sat in a patched chair in Room 1B in the run down transit motel located at 39th South Calumet Avenue talking to himself. He had just finished doing two hundred sit ups and two hundred pushups. He felt good and said to himself, “I am a God; I can give life and take life.” He had spent an hour trying to convince himself that he was not a cold-blooded killer but was ridding the world of worthless women that used their sexuality to tempt and control men. He hated all the rules that govern society and told people how to live their lives.

FLASH BACK: -10 June 1973
Esau Sneed was two years of age in 10 June, 1973, when he saw his mother, a heroin addict sitting naked in a half filled bath tub with a pair of worn pantyhose loosely tied around her neck, eyes closed and her arms forming an X across her chest, he never knew his father and he doubted if his mother knew. One morning when he was three, he heard loud voices in their two room apartment, when he looked into the bathroom he saw his mother in the bloody tub her arms forming the customary X across her chest and a needle sticking out her arm. He heard one of the people talking about his mother dying from an overdose and how she had mutilated herself. A lady from the Department of Children and Family Services wrapped Esau in a blanket and took him to a large room where he spent the night with other abandon or abused children. Esau spent four years at the orphanage before being placed with the Whitleys, Demetrius and Donna. Demetruis was a big man over 230 pounds and over six feet and a drunk. When he was drunk he would beat his small wife Donna and Esua for no reason other than just being plain old mean. Donna was very submissive and the years of abuse caused her to look older than her thirty-five years. Esau was seven when he was sent to their home and he remembered his first night in their home, Demetruis came home drunk and raped his wife in front of him. Demetrious seemed to get pleasure forcing Esau to watch while he had sex with his wife and eventually Esau wanting to watch and became fascinated with Donna’s body. While a student at Finger Elementary School on the far south side of the city Esau was fascinated by his female classmates; he carved a hole in the girl’s washroom wall and would watch the girls as they used the facilities; he would stand below the stairs and look under their dresses as they walked up or down, when he saw the private parts of some of the girls who didn’t wear panties he would become aroused and felt a hardness in his penis. Donna would braid his long straight hair into pigtails and tie them with barrettes, she also told Esau how she always wanted a daughter and she would alter her panty-hoses to fit him. Esau was physically unimpressive at around four feet, a little under fifty-five pounds, but he had high cheekbones, a strong jaw-line that formed angular planes, sharp facial features, dark black eyes and a coffee colored complexion, but because of his size, his high pitched voice and his good looks he was bullied by the other boys to protect himself he carried a rusty switch-blade knife he found in the alley. In spite of his home life and the bullying, he was an excellent student and had been tested at having an IQ of 160 and considered by many of his teacher as charming and a genius, but other study’s revealed that he lacked social skills and often manipulated the younger children and seemed preoccupied with deviant sexual fantasies about young girls and women. Esau was often teased by his classmates for the braids and barrettes, in his hair and when we found out about the woman panties he wore, the teasing increased and the girls called him “Weirdo,” and would snicker, giggle and make fun of him. At home he found homework boring so he read romantic novels of Charles Baudelaire the 19th Century French poet and translator who wrote that “Unless sex was sinful, it was boring and meaningless,” and the works of Jean-Jacques Rousseau the 18th Century Swiss philosopher, writer and composer and was especially fond of his saying, “That when imagination is combined with sexual desire the results is twice as intoxicating.” He read over and over their love scenes that described the beauty of the female body and he day-dreamed about making love to beautiful women. He lacked the courage to pursue or talk to the few girls he was attracted to instead he would attempt to ease-drop on them when they were undressing for gym or in the bathroom. When he was eleven years old and in the eighth grades he stopped going to school and decided to runaway. He was in his room packing his few clothes in shopping bags when Demetrius entered.

DEMETRIUS (DRUNK)
What the fuck you doing little mutherfucka?

ESAU (YELLING)
Getting the fuck out of here?

DEMETRIUS
Fuck you are what about the fuckin’ money we get for keeping your black ass

ESAU
Fuck you and the money

FADE IN:
Demetrius blind with rage and cheap wine lunged at Esau who easily side-stepped him and hit him hard in his beer belly. Demetrius doubled over and threw up a reddish liquid over the soiled bare floor. After regaining his balance Demetrius lunged again and grabbed Esua in a bear hug. Esua pulled his switch-blade knife from his pocket and kneed Demetrius in his groin. Demetrius released Esua and screamed as Esua plunged the knife into Demetrius neck and was immediate sprayed with blood, Demetruis grabbed his neck made a gurgling sound and fell. Esua straddled the fallen man and continued stabbing him. He heard a scream, turned around and saw Donna standing in the doorway, covered with Demetruis blood; he attacked Donna, stabbing her numerous times. When Donna fell to the floor her flimsy house dress flew up exposing her private parts. Esau got an erection. As he mounted and entered her he saw the fear in her eyes and heard her shallow breathing, in a moment she let out a gasping sound and her eyes went blank, Esau felt something in his penis a sensation he had never felt before, he let out a moan and felt something surging through his penis and he noticed the white stains on Donna’s leg. After a half-hour of raping Donna he dragged her dead body into the bathroom and placed her into the tub which he felled with lukewarm water and carved an X on her chest. For the next eight years Esau drifted between Gary, Indiana and Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Chicago. In Gary he joined the G’D’s street game and began selling crack cocaine a block from a catholic all girls high school, he eventually got addicted on crack and the prescription drugs Valium, Ativan and Librium. Esau usually worked the afternoon shift and arrived at his spot generally about 3:00 pm just as school was letting out. He watched the young girls giggling and whispering as they walked, their red and blue pleated short shirts blowing in the cool breeze and their starched white blouses straining to hold in their developing breast. One of the young girls, he figured to be about fifteen caught his eye. She was tall and shapely with dark hair that hung to her waist and she would often smile as she passed him, her name was Mary Jones, he knew she wanted him. It was 10 January 1999 snow and ice covered the streets and the temperature was five below zero with a wind chill of ten below. His boss Billibob told him that the weather was too bad and to take the night off. As Esau was leaving he saw Mary leaving the school with two other girls. The two other girls rushed to a black Ford and he heard a male voice offer her a ride but she refused, pulled her scarf tighter around her neck and started walking. The sky was a dull gray and bolts of lightning leaped across the sky as Mary walked quickly through the depressing neighborhood of boarded up houses and abandon warehouses. The streets were deserted as Esau took a hit of crack and followed her. A gust of wind blew her skirt up to her waist, revealed white panties. Esau got an immediate erection and took another snort of the drug, he was feeling good and his strong erection was beginning to hurt he knew he had to get it off. Unaware that she was being followed Mary walked into an alley behind a warehouse.

ESAU (TO HIMSELF AND CLOSING THE DISTANCE)
She wants me

MARY (TURNING AROUNG AND SMILING)
Hi

FADE IN:
Like a lion attacking his prey, Esau lunged at the girl striking her hard with his fist. The young girl fell to the ground unconscious. Esau dragged her into the abandon warehouse where he found some old rope and bound her hands and feet. As he was undressing her, Mary opened her eyes and saw Esau standing in front of her rubbing his erect penis. He moaned as he ejaculated over her body and asked, “Do you see my big dick, bet you would like to touch it or better still suck it wouldn’t you?“ Mary tried to scream but was knocked unconscious again. Esau took off her panties and placed them into his pocket; he then removed her pantyhose and tied it tightly around her neck before raping her. Mary came too just as Esau was climaxing and pulling the pantyhose tighter, he stabbed her several times, carved an X into her chest and smeared a bloody X on the dirty walls. The murder and rape of Mary Jones brought an increase in the police presence in the neighborhood, uniform police officers and detectives were everywhere, hassling the drug dealers and gang bangers. Billibob the gangs Regent told Esau that he was closing down the spot until the heat was off. Esau and other drug dealers went to a gang safe house and spent two weeks snorting crack, drinking gin and beer and cooling out, but Esau was restless he remembered how good it was with Mary Jones, he wanted that feeling again. After his homeboys had passed out, he left and took a cab to Smith Street, a known hangout for prostitutes. Even though it was March, cold and snowy the working girls were out in full force, many wearing miniskirts or very short dresses. Esau snorted a vial of crack paid the cab driver and began walking the street looking over the girls. The steam came out of the sewers and the street smelled of bar-b-que ribs, rotting garbage and unwashed bodies, loud music came from the rundown bars and everyone looked cold. Esau was stopped by a woman who looked to be in her fifties, her red wig sat crookedly on her head and the fake eyelashes had started to drooped. She put her arms in his and looking down at him.

PROSTITUTE (WHISPERING)
Good fuck and suck, only fifty bucks little man.

ESAU (ESAU SNATCHED HIS ARM AWAY AND HISSED)
No thanks

FADE IN:
Esau continued walking and got numerous offers from the working girls some stomping their feet to keep warm others opening their coats to advertise their wares. Esau saw a young girl standing against a wall with an older woman. She looked as young as Mary, but not as pretty. The blazing red lipstick was smeared on her lips and ice cycles hung from her weather beaten hat. He knew that her ragged coat could not be providing much warmth, he stopped.


OLD PROSTITUTE (SMILING)
Looking for some fun, two for the price of one

ESAU
How ’bout you, you working?

YOUNG PROSTITUTE (LOOKING DAZED)
Fifty bucks for a blow, I don’t fuck

ESAU (MUMBLES)
That’s kinda high for a head job

OLD PROSTITUTE (STILL SMILING)
Another fifty and you can fuck me after Rita gives you some head

ESAU (LOOKING OVER THE TWO PROSTITUTES)
Ok young blood, you got a spot?

YOUNG PROSTITUTE
Upstairs!

OLD PROSTITUTE
I’ll be waiting down here, honey

FADE IN:
Esau followed the young woman up the rickety stairs to the second floor; the woman opened the door and stood aside. Esau walked into a large room that only contained a bed and a strong smell of marijuana and sex. Still not talking, the woman sat on the bed and waived Esau over. Esau slowly walked over to the bed and she begins unzipping his pants and pulled out his hard penis and put it in her mouth. Esau could feel her warm lips going up and down on his penis, but he didn’t want to climax like this he wanted to fuck. Esau slowed removed a stocking containing coins and hit the woman, as she fell back on the bed she involuntarily bit down hard causing blood to gush out.“Bitch,” he screamed as he hit her again and again. Esau raped the obviously dead woman, dragged into the bathroom and placed her into the tub, removed her panties, folded her arm in an x and made a bloody X on the bathroom wall and took a snap shot before leaving out the back door. Esau walked slowly down the dark street, pulling his coat tight to hide the blood and boarded a Greyhound Bus for Chicago and joined the Chicago G’D’s street gang as a drug dealer. On 10 June 2001 Esau killed Sandra Wheatly a waitress in East Chicago, Illinois and on 10 July 2005 he killed Janice Woods, a Liberian in Harvey, Illinois. Esau became more and more addicted to crack and prescription drugs and began using more drugs than he sold, when the gang leaders found out he was severely beaten and kicked him out the gang.
In May, 2007 Esau got job as a laborer for the DB Construction Company which, was constructing a building at 44th South Western Avenue. All day he pushed heavy carts and wheel barrels, loaded supplies and material for the carpenters, electricians and other tradesmen. It was a dirty job and he hated it, but what he hated more was the disrespect he received from them. His boss was a young black woman named Ada and she was a total bitch. Ada was always yelling at him and accusing him for being lazy and late reporting for work or coming back from lunch. The tradesman with their tool belts strapped around their waist and the neatly pressed uniforms was constantly yelling at him to hurry up. Today was a hard day, Ada and the tradesmen were on his ass and to make matters worse, he was told that today was his last day, he was being fired. During his lunch break Esau sat alone at the lunch bench and downed Valium, Ativan and Librium with a gulp of coffee and day-dreamed mostly about Ada, he could think of a lot of imaginative ways to make her suffer. He visualized how she would look dead and naked in a bath tub after being fucked in the ass, but he knew it was too soon after the last one.

ADA (SCREAMING)
Lunch over, Esau get your black ass back to work

FADE IN:
Esau looked up from the bench and saw Ada towering over him. She was a tall woman, at least six feet and she seemed to enjoy looking down at him with her upturned nose, too much makeup and gapped teeth. Esau could feel the pills working, he was losing control and felt crazed. He got up from the bench and looked up Ada.


ESAU
Fuck you, you ugly motherfucker

ADA (LOOKING AGRILY AT ESAU)
You’re fired, you little fuck,
FADE IN:
Esau walks off the construction site, the drugs were working, he felt good, and he wanted to fuck, to kill, and to take out his anger at Ada on some other black woman who always was fucking over some poor black man. He knew if he killed Ada the police might suspect him, so he had to find another black bitch. He walked to 43rd South Western Avenue and took an eastbound bus to 43rd South King Drive transferred to a southbound bus. He looked out the dirty bus window at the thousands of blacks who lived, worked and died there. Esau closed his eyes and remembered how when he was a young boy he and his mom Avery, when she wasn’t high, would stroll down what used to be called South Parkway before being renamed Martin Luther King Drive. He recalled how Bronzeville had become the hub of activity it was a thriving, vibrant and self-contained black Mecca of political and economic power seated in Chicago’s 2nd, 3rd and 4th Wards. He recalled his mother pointing out the successful black businesses, civic organizations and churches that comprised an area approximately five square miles, starting north at 31st and ending at 55th Street, State Street on the west to Cottage Grove Avenue on the east. The bus passed black owned banks, hotels and self-supported businesses that comprised the black community. He noticed the magnificent greystones building and mansions on King Drive where many of the black political bosses lived as well as doctors, lawyers, dentists and respected Pullman Porters. He remembered his first trip to Provident Hospital to visit his dying grandmother and how he and his mother looked into the windows of soul food restaurants, and restaurant that served gourmet foods, fine steaks and chops. There were taverns, clothing stores, barbershops, gambling dens, night clubs and poolrooms. Bronzeville was in every way, “A city within a city.”Esau got off the bus at 47th South King Drive and walked passed what use to be the Regal Theater the apex of the black entertainment world in Chicago, the Regal rendered a tremendous boost to the cities black culture and was a lavish Byzantine edifice with its tall columns, plush carpeting and velvet drapes. The theater was the central mainstay of black entertainment life from the late 1920’s to the early 1970’s. Balaban and Kattzs opened the theater on February 24, 1928. It was the depression and most people barely had enough money for the essentials and certainly couldn’t afford a ticket. Never -the- less, the owners kept the tickets cheap which allowed the poor blacks to attend. The theater hired a Blackman Kenneth Blewitt as an usher. Blewitt was an energetic and personable usher and in 1929 he was promoted to manager. Blewitt had four stage shows or revues everyday, 7 days a week featuring beautiful and shapely black showgirls and usually a boring movie in between. Many people with nowhere else to go would spend the entire day at the theater moving closer to the stage after every show. The theater catered specifically to the entertainment tastes of African Americans and featured top named black entertainers who performed on its stage; Cab Calloway, Louis Armstrong, Lena Horne, and Duke Ellington performed there frequently. 47th Street came alive at night; the night sky illuminated with the flashing bright neon lights of the jazz and blues clubs. The Policy Kings were the affluent men in Bronzeville, they drove their finely dressed girlfriends and wives in late model cars as they went to the blues clubs or dinner. The hustler ruled the strip, the policy men, gamblers and pool sharks all called 47th street home. The residents living in Bronzeville believed if you was new to the city and was looking for someone just stand at 47th South King Drive and you would eventually see them, they also believed that you could get anything you wanted on 47th street from girls to drugs, which was mainly marijuana and heroin. Esau walked to Jimmy’s Joint at 51st South Calumet Avenue and sat at the bar and ordered a gin and tonic. He downed a couple more pills and thought about Ada, how to get back at her, how to make her scream. Get control of yourself, you can’t fuck with her, not now, wait,” he heard a voice inside his head say. He looked out the grimy windows of the tavern and noticed an attractive dark skinned young lady leaving the Arab Grocery store across the street. It was about 5:30 pm and starting to get dark. The woman wore a battered overcoat and was carrying a shopping bag. The booze and the pills were really working now; he got an erection looking at her. He left the tavern and followed her to 5225 South Prairie Avenue and watched as the lights came on in the first floor apartment. Esau walked slowly passed the decrepit three and four story brick apartments. Steel shutters covered the abandon businesses. He went around to a gangway next to the building and waited and watched. There were no curtains on the window and he noticed one of the windows was partially opened. He swallowed a couple more pills as he watched the woman undress and walk around the small apartment wearing only a bra and pink panties. He got another erection and knew he couldn‘t wait any longer. He found an old crate, pulled himself up to the window, squeezed through the small opening in the window and entered the apartment.

FADE IN:
Esau felt edgy and anxious so he swallowed a Thorazine pill with a sip of water. He wanted to go out, to find some young thing that wanted him, but he was feeling unusually jumpy and his mind was racing. He wanted to, needed to fuck and kill someone. He was naked except for a pair of laced pink panties and the only light in the dark claustrophobic room was from a dim table lamp. He pulled an old loosely bound album from his suitcase under the bed, the pictures were in chronological order the first picture was marked 10 January 2000, Gary, Indiana, Mary Jones. He looked at the color Polaroid pictures of, Mariah Williams, Tonya James, Robin Honeywell and his latest victim Peggy Smith, they were all naked and looking at him through lust-filled eyes, they wanted him and couldn’t wait. He thought about Peggy. He watched her at the health Club and could tell she was lonely and needed a good fuck. How stupid she was to invite him into her apartment. Well she got what she wanted a good fuck. He remembered her moans of ecstasy as he entered her and how she pleaded with him to go deeper. He remembered how Mary looked as she walked to the Catholic High School in her pleated blue skirt and starched white blouse, her budding breast fitted tightly against her shirt. The second victim was marked 10 February 2000, Rita Maxwell, Gary, Indiana. She also was about fifteen, but unlike Mary Jones she didn’t go to school she was a whore. The third picture was marked 10 June 2001 Sandra Wheatly, East Chicago, Illinois and the last picture Janice woods 2003 Harvey, Illinois. He noticed how they all posed for him with their big eyes bulging with the pantyhose tied tightly around their necks. He could still feel their bodies as he lifted them and took them to be cleaned in the bathtub and he could see the resignation in their eyes, there was no fear or resistance, just acceptance as he plugged the knife into their chest just below the right firm nipple. He got off the chair and looked out the grimy window at the young girls jumping rope on the sidewalk at the Ida B. Wells projects. He watched as a young girl who had just started developing breast jumped up and down, her little breast in perfect time with the rope, the blood rushed to his loins. An old woman wearing a black mini-skirt, black high heel shoes and a battered pee coat that showed her flabby breast hurriedly walk past and displayed a toothless smile, close behind her and holding her hand was an equally old white man.“Dirty fuckin’ whore,” he screamed out the window, but the couple was gone. His stomach ached, reminding him that he had not eaten since early that morning and then he had only two biscuits and coffee at Gladys’s Restaurant. He thought about going back for lunch but he didn’t like eating in front of people. A muscle cramped in his right leg and he rubbed it, he really didn’t mind the pain, he had gotten use to it. He picked up the remote that was chained to the beat-up table and turned to the news. An attractive black woman was reading the news about the recent killing of a pregnant young black woman named Peggy Smith who had been brutally mutilated, raped and killed by the serial killer known as the X-Man. “The Medical Examiner stated that bits of skin under her fingernails belonged to a black person, Sonia Tappper for NBC News.”
In the background were photos of the other six victims believed to be of the X-Man. Enraged he got out and chair and looked closely at the photos, he recognized his four victims but not the other three. Someone was stealing his thunder and putting the blame on him, taking credit for his work. He slammed around the room knocked over the chair and fell. He got back up and slammed his fist into the wall. “Who was this asshole,” he thought to himself. He lit a blunt and slowly sipped a can of Budweiser Beer as the newswoman interviewed Detective Sergeant John Ringo, head of the X-Man Taskforce.“We believe that these killings are the acts of a sick, homicidal maniac, but I want to stress to the people of this great city that we will not permit this city to be terrorized by a sicko or a copycat.”“What the fuck you mean “sicko,” you black muthafucker,” he screamed at the television. He grabbed the remote and turned off the television, walked into the dirty bathroom and looked at himself in the mirror. He turned his head from side to side and admired his deep black eyes, smooth skin, and handsome features. He looked at the scar on his left arm where Mariah Williams had scratched him, but it was nearly healed and only showed a slight scab. “That bitch, Mariah,” he snarled, “Put up a good fight, but she was the best fuck of all of them.”The little man looked at his small but powerful body. He stood only five feet but had well developed muscles from working out daily at Melony Fitness Center. He retrieved a tube of U-Stickem Glue from his pants pocket and sat on the bed. He squeezed out some of the sticky liquid on the back of Peggy’s picture and attached it on the blank page in the album. He lay on the bed and masturbated as the images of the women he had raped and killed flooded his mind, groaning silently he ejaculated; his small body shook as he slowly dozed off.

FADE IN: 20 January 2008-DAY
As Evetta drive to Miller’s Beer Warehouse located at 4300 south Racine Boulevard, parks while Ringo read a report.

RINGO
Peggy’s boyfriend work as a driver assistant for the Miller beer company he agreed to talk us before he starts work.

EVETTA
I think that’s him standing by the time clock, hopefully he can shed some light on Peggy
FADE IN:
Angelo was standing at the time clock smoking a Pall Mall cigarette when Ringo identified himself, the young man nodded, gave him and Evetta a disgusted look and inserted his time card in the machine.

ANGELO
I’ve told the other cops all I know

EVETTA
We know, but we need to hear it first hand, it won’t take long and anything you can tell us about Peggy will help.

ANGELO (ANGELO RETRIEVED HIS CARD AND PUT IT IN THE CARDHOLDER)
Ok, Ok, ask your questions

EVETTA
Tell us about Peggy

ANGELO (ANGELO PUT THE CIGARETTE OUT IN A RECEPTACLE BY THE BENCH)
She was beautiful, warm and kind hearted. She grew up in that apartment where they found her. Her mother was an alcoholic and her father was a recovering addict. I tried to get her to move out the neighborhood, to move in with me, I told her that the neighborhood was too bad, gangs, drugs, drive-byes, but she always said that this was her home and she knew everyone in the neighborhood and wasn’t afraid.

EVETTA
What about her husband and kids?

ANGELO
All I know is that he lives in Detroit and has the kids. I only met the kids once and she never talked about her husband.

RINGO
Any other relatives?

ANGELO
A younger sister somewhere doesn’t know where. She didn’t talk a lot about her family

EVETTA
Hobbies, interests?

ANGELO
About the only thing she really liked to do was go to the movies, two or three times a week when we weren’t together and she worked out at the Hyde Park Health Club.

ANGELO
All I know is that he lives in Detroit and has the kids. I only met the kids once and she never talked about her husband.

RINGO
Any other relatives?

ANGELO
A younger sister somewhere doesn’t know where. She didn’t talk a lot about her family


EVETTA
What theaters?

ANGELO
Mainly in the malls, River Oaks, Ford, she always said she felt safer there, is this going to take long?

RINGO
Did you’ll spend a lot of time together?

ANGELO
Mainly on the weekends, most of the time at my place in Hyde Park, I didn’t like the neighborhood where she lived

EVETTA
How long where you two dating?

ANGELO
About two years

RINGO
How did you’ll meet?

ANGELO
At River Oaks Mall, I accidentally bumped her while making a delivery. I apologized, she smiled and the rest is history.

EVETTA
Did she have a habit of leaving windows opened?

ANGELO
No, she was very careful; she would never leave a window opened even if it’s a hundred degrees outside.
RNGO
Notice any weirdoes at the malls

ANGELO
Shit, there are a lot of weird dudes at the mall

EVETTA
I know, couple more questions and we’re done, any idea who might be mad at her or would want to harm her?

ANGELO
No, she never told me about any problems at work or anywhere. I can’t shake it that if I was there with her maybe it wouldn’t have happened.

RINGO
One last question, where were you last Saturday?

ANGELO
At work damnit, I have to work two Saturdays a month, are we done? Angelo said getting off the bench.

RINGO
You nervous?

ANGELO
Shit yeah, I’m nervous. Everybody knows the first suspect for you guys is the people close to the person

EVETTA
When was the last time you saw Peggy?

ANGELO
Last Thursday, we spent the night together. I dropped her off at work that Friday morning

EVETTA
Did you ever pay attention to her underwear?

ANGELO (PUT HIS CIGARETTE OUT ON THE GROUND)
Not really, why?

EVETTA
What about panty-hose?

ANGELO (ANGELO CLOSED HIS EYES)
I don’t think she ever wore those, I remember her saying we gave her some type of woman’s infection

EVETTA (HANDING ANGELO HER CARD)
Thanks for your time, we’ll be in touch

RINGO PICKS UP THE CIGARETTE BUTT AND PUT IT IN AN EVIDENCE BAGGIE
INT: COOK COUNTY MEDICAL EXAMINER’S OFFICE-DR. DIXON OFFICE
RINGO
Anything on the pantyhose?

DIXON
Nope, cheap, can be purchased at any Dollar or discount store

RINGO
We interviewed the boyfriend and were told that she didn’t wear pantyhose, gave her an infection, maybe he brought them with him

DIXON (RUBBING HIS SMALL, DARK, BUT EXTREMELY CLEAN HANDS TOGETHER)
So, maybe the killer brought them with him but there was sperm found inside her could be the boyfriends, if we could get a sample of his DNA we’ll know definitely.

RINGO (HANDING THE DOCTOR THE EVIDENCE BAGGIE WITH ANGELO’S BUTT)
No sperm was found anywhere in the apartment in this or the other five similar homicides. The victims were average young working women, no money or drug involvement, they all seemingly were picked at random, didn’t know each other, what is his damn motive?” I asked more to myself than the doctor. This is the boyfriends maybe you can get some DNA off it.

DIXON
I’ll send it to the lab with a top priority, check back in a couple of days.


EVETTA
What about the bruise on her head?

DIXON
Not too severe, but it could have knocked her out for a few minutes. Hey Ringo let’s get together for a game of chess one evening at Border’s in Hyde Park, do you some good to get away from this for a minute

RNGO
You’re on, I’ll call you and thanks, doc


FADE IN:
Ringo and Evetta are on their way back to the office.

RINGO
Ain’t it unusual for a woman living alone not to have curtains in her home, especially the bedroom, was she an exhibitionist who got off exposed herself? Had a voyeur who been watching her crawled into the open window and confronted her in the bathroom? Had the killer been watching her and knew her routine, knew when the boyfriend came over and when he left? Were there other routines, common links in the other killings that we have missed? Had she had a fight with Angelo? Was Peggy a victim of a copycat? It was well document that some psychopaths followed murders reported by the media and attempted to duplicate them. Did she use drug and owed a drug dealer? I know he’s still out there somewhere stalking his next victim. I want you to stay in touch with doc. I gave him Angelo’s cigarette butt and hopefully he can pull some DNA from it and I want you to use your snitches to find out how heavily Peggy was into drugs. Dixon said we found small amounts of marijuana in her blood and the CSI crew found some at her apartment. Also see if anyone ever saw her parading around her apartment nude or half-clothed. I’ve got a funny feeling about this one. I’ve assigned Scotty to try to track down her sister and her husband, ok?

EVETTA
Yep, that’s very unusual for a woman not to have curtains in her apartment. Could be a copycat but I doubt it, too many similarities.

RINGO
How are Clarence and the boys?”

EVETTA
Good, he’s taking them camping and fishing at Starved Rock, for some male bonding. Evetta placed the folder into her large bag and looked hard at me, I knew it was mama-nurturing time.

EVETTA
Listen, you come to the house this Sunday for dinner, spend some time with your godsons and chill out, you are beginning to look terrible, do you understand me?

RINGO
Yes ma’am

FADE IN:
After Evetta dropped me off at the office I thought about what Evetta had said, I pulled a small mirror out my desk drawer and looked at myself. Evetta was right I looked terrible and definitely needed to chill, my leg began to ache. I notified the unit secretary and told her I would be at the River Oaks Bally Fitness Center if she needed me.

INT: River Oaks Bally Fitness Center
Bally Fitness Center was a state-of-the art facility located in the River Oaks Shopping Mall on the far southeast side of the city. It had cardiovascular machines, resistance training equipment, exercise classes, personal trainers, tennis courts, saunas, juice bar and a pool. I tried to get in a swim and a workout at least four times a week, even though I was not a dues-paying member, the fitness center like other businesses in the city welcomed police officer and usually gave them a discount rate or no charge at all. The black female receptionist had a baldhead, wore oversized earrings and a thin face. The gymnasium white t-shirt with Bally’s silk- screened across her ample chest displayed hard nipples. She got out of her chair and I noticed her hard and flat dark brown abdomen. She wore white snugly fitting French-cut shorts that rode high on her flanks.

RECEPTIONIST (SEDUCTIVE TONE SHE WHISPERED)
Hi Detective

RINGO
Not too crowded today

RECEPTIONIST
Not yet, just wait a couple of hours

FADE IN:
The club’s stereo speakers were pounding out Lionel Richie’s “All Night Long,” as I changed into my sweats and exited the locker room. A well-shaped, young black woman wearing an orange Lycra body suit so tight it she might as well been naked passed him, smiled and seemed to walking in time with the music. I stopped and watched her as her ass shifted back and forth. I entered a large room, loud rock music was thumping over the room speakers and Lionel Richie’s tune was tuned out, thank goodness, I never could stand Lionel Richie’s commercialized music. Twenty men and eight women who comprised the aerobic class were pumping, flexing, running in place and leaping in unison to the sensual, thumping beat of Teddy Pendergrass. I went through a sliding glass into the smaller weight- room. This room had floor to ceiling mirrors, highly polished wooden floor and smelled of sweat. There was no piped in music and the only sounds were the grunts of the men and women lifting weights. I noticed on a lift bench Hispanic women wearing a low cut sweat shirt and cut-off was lying on her back, lifting a weight above her head and humping the air with rigorous pelvic trusts, legs spread wide, feet flat on the floor. The cut-off shorts had bunched up and I could see underneath, she was not wearing panties, grunting and grimacing seem to be acceptable and desired, and there was no modesty here. An Oriental woman with long black hair tied in a ponytail was working with an overweight young black girl, she spotted me and waived, in a few minutes the young girl left the room.
LEE (SMILING)
Ready for some pain?

RINGO
Let’s get it on, Lee

The personal trainer took me through a series of workouts: fifteen minutes lifting forty pound weights, thirty pull-ups, chest flexes and other exercises that were used in basic army physical training, but being a former Navy Seal this was nothing for me. After the workout I changed into swimming trunks and went into the humid, chlorinated room that housed the club’s Olympic-sized pool. A young woman in a white thong bikini was getting out the pool as I entered. She was striking, long black hair and I noticed that the bottom of the skimpy bikini had slipped into the crack of her buttocks and her nipples were hard, I could not help staring at the pubic hairs that were escaping her crotch. Absentmindedly, she attempted to adjust the tong, gave up and smiled at me as she passed. The pool was usually empty during this time of day. I dove into the therapeutic water headfirst; it always made me feel better being in the water. After two years in Iraq as a member of the Navy Seals, water was like my second home; I was at no disadvantage in the water, and not as much at a disadvantage on land as some people might think, seeing me limping alone. Together with my twenty-minute swims, lifting weights and regular exercises I had forged a strong upper torso and arms and a conditioned quickness with an iron grip. I swam fifteen laps before turning on my back and swimming another ten laps, afterwards I just floated in the warm water, eyes closed and thought about the war and my injury.

FLASHBACK – Kuwait- 1995
My heavily armed five-man Seal Team had been inserted near Kuwait, and we swam ten miles to Al Basra a small fishing village on the east coast. After hiding our swim gear we moved quickly to our objective a 14,300-foot mountain in the Kushan Pass. I was First Lieutenant and in charge of the team, we climbed three hundred feet up the mountain and strategically positioned ourselves on the high ground above a narrow, winding trail. It was a cold, dark and moonless night. I looked through my night vision goggles and saw the forty-man group of Taliban fighters all armed with AK-47 Assault rifles which were slung over their shoulders and bandoliers of bullets draped across their chest casually walking on the trail, I watched as they lit cigarettes and listened as they laughed and talked. Two dusty pickup trucks covered with a brown awning took up the rear. I watched as a tall man walked in front and seemed to be leading the way, he like the other men wore baggy cotton pants and long cotton shirts with a sash around the waist and a dirty turban sat on top of a skullcap. Naval Intelligence learned that this band of fighters were transporting arms and other weapons to other fighters in the area and my team mission was to ambush the fighters and to eliminate them with “Extreme Prejudice,” which was naval intelligent jargon which meant kill them. I selected a bend in the trail the fighters had to walk single file, Corporal Willis Logan, a black man from Chicago and weapons expert was station behind large boulders directly in front of the bend, his .50 caliber machine primed and ready, Sergeant first-class Richard Ramos armed with an RPG or Rocket Propelled Grenade was a few yards behind the Corporal and had an unobstructed view of the tail column of the group and the two pick-up trucks. The other members of the team were armed with Uzi Machine guns and had open fields of fire on the fighters. “Now,” I said over my head microphone.
The sudden burst of automatic machine gun fire broke the stillness of the night as the Seal team totally decimated the fighters. Sergeant Juan Gomez sent balls of fire from his rocket-propelled weapon at the trucks. Men jumped out and others were thrown out the bed of the trucks; screaming and on fire, their torment ended in rapid firing automatic weapons. In ten minutes the trail was covered with mangled bodies and scrap metal. Moans of pain and terror came from the wounded men, some were praying and fingering prayer beads while others mouth agape could say nothing. I signaled the men to the trail and we looked at the carnage.
“Let’s get this over with,” I said impassionedly. Suddenly there was an explosion of gunfire as one of the wounded fighters yelled a holy prayer and fired his weapon towards me he only got off one shot that shattered my knee before the Seal team killed all of the wounded fighters. I slowly pulled myself out the pool and took a hot and then a cold shower, after drying myself with a clean, rough terry cloth towel, I wiped the fog from the center of the shower mirror and looked at my face again and smiled, I looked and felt a lot better.

FLASHBACK 10 Mar 2008
By night, the area between 31st Street north to 55th Street south is controlled by the 43rd Street Hustlers street gang. After years of drive byes, murders and intimidations the gang had total control of all the drugs sold in the area and made regular payoffs to the 2nd District Vice Unit. Ten years ago William “Bull” Jones a Governor in the gang was set-up by corrupt 2nd Police District Vice Officers because he refused to increase their monthly “Nut” or payoff from two thousand a week to five. Two vice-officers planted a quantity of crack cocaine on Bull and charged him with possession and intent to deliver the drug, they knew that if convicted it could result in a long prison term. Evetta and her partner, honest cops in the vice unit, found out about the set-up and broke a golden rule of any police department we ratted out the corrupt officer, They took their information to the FBI because probably the District Commander, Watch Commanders, lieutenants and some sergeants were part of the nut Bull was paying. An FBI investigation led to the arrest of many officers assigned to the district and Bull was released without charging, Evetta and her partner reward for exposing the corruption was to be transferred to other districts miles from their home, but Evetta had made a friend out of William “Bull” Jones.

INT: RINGO’S OFFICE- 5 MARCH 2008
EVETTA
I was thinking, most of the killings have taken place in an area controlled by the 43rd Hustlers, one of their governors owe me big time. I’m going to get in contact with him maybe he or his boys know something.

RINGO
Good idea, but be careful, those guys are dangerous

EVETTA
Will do

FADE IN: COMO INN
Jones met Evetta in a quiet, isolated booth at the Como Inn, an Italian Restaurant on the north side of the city.

EVETTA
I need some information concerning the girl who got killed on 43rd Street

JONES
I heard ‘bout that, what you need, mama?

EVETTA
Firstly, was she one of your customers, and did any of your guys ever see her walking around in her apartment nude or anything like that? Have there been any strange looking dudes hanging around where you do your business? Did your guys working in the alley beneath the el train see or hear anything unusual Saturday night

JONES (LAUGHNG)
God Damn mama I glad you ain’t working narcotics no’mo

EVETTA (SMILING)
I guess you are, ‘cause you know I would be on your ass.

JONES
Let me get the word out, I will hit you on your cell

EVETTA
Thanks man

JONES
Anytime, anyplace I’ve got your back

EVETTA
I going back to 45th Street for a walk around so tell your boys too cool it for a couple hours

JONES
Done mama and we’ll be watching you back also

FADE IN: 4555 South Prairie Avenue -8:00 PM
Evetta arrived at just as the streetlights disturbed the darkness. The street was quiet and there was no people on the street and very little vehicular traffic. Evetta walked around to the rear of the apartment building and noticed black hooded figures that blended with the dark buildings watching as she entered the alley and walked to Peggy’s apartment building. She entered the apartment through the rear squeaky door; in the darkness it seemed even more empty and silent. She switched on the kitchen light and sat down at the kitchen table and imagined Peggy maybe smoking a joint walking to the bathroom. “Was she dressed or naked?” Evetta though to herself. Evetta got up from the table turned off the light and turned on the dim overhead hallway light. As she walked a loose plank under the bared floor moaned under her weigh. She moved down the hall and turned off the hallway light and peered out the window where maybe the killer had entered, the open gangway was pitch black. “Why didn’t she hear the noise from the floor?” Evetta turned on the living room light and looked around, nothing appeared disturbed. She entered the bathroom situated off the hallway and looked into the tub, everything was the same. She moved closer to tub, avoiding the bloodstains and dusting powder. Evetta tried to approach it from the logistics of a killer;”How had he entered the apartment without her knowledge, unless she was in the shower and couldn’t hear him as he climbed through the window, if that’s where he entered? Did he randomly select her or did he know her? Was he a peeping tom who got excited watching and decided to have her? Did he watch her as she moved around the apartment nude or half-nude? Each of the victims had boyfriends or lovers, who occasionally stayed over, yet each victim was alone when attacked, that meant that the killer planned the attacks and put his victims under some sort of surveillance and probably surprised them. Although his killings showed signs of violent, eruptive and psychotic spontaneity, his method of selecting the victims seemed to indicate extensive planning and carefulness, leaving no clues. Like Monique said, this combination of traits indicated behavior attributed more to a psychopath than a psychotic. Evetta went back outside into the dark alley and again she noticed the shadowy figures that seemed to melt into the night. She viewed the rear of the apartment from different angle and walked into the dark gangway. She looked at the entry window and deducted that the killer had to be tall and very strong if he chinned his way up to the window or he had something to step on. She walked to the front of the apartment building and noticed the bedroom window faced south on Prairie Avenue and she could have been seen from the streets walking around in a skimpy night gown or nothing at all, her lithe body silhouetted against the bright bedroom interior light. After walking down the alley a few apartment buildings away she lost sight of Peggy’s building or the gangway. She walked back to 45th Street and turned left at Prairie Avenue. Peggy’s building set back off the street and couldn’t be seen until she was two building from it. The killer could have entered the dark gangway from the street or the gangway, hiked himself up to the window an entered the apartment. The unmark squad car startled her, it pulled up beside her before she realized it was there. Two young plainclothes officer approached, but when she flashed her badge they moved on. Evetta knew that the department needed help in catching the X-Man, a concerned citizen that saw something or maybe even Bull’s boys. Evetta returned to her car, climbed inside, and turned on the interior light. She read the reports of the police officers and detectives who had interviewed the neighbors. None of the neighbors really knew her, although she had lived in the neighborhood all of her life, but Evetta knew that this neighborhood was very mobile, people were always moving in and out and they minded their own business. None of the neighbors saw or heard anything suspicious that Saturday night according to the other detective’s interview reports, there was nothing to draw attention to anything the night of the murder or any other night. Evetta opened the envelope containing the first known victim of the X-Man. Evetta briefly glanced at the photographs of the other four victims and the photo of Peggy as a tear ran down her cheek. Evetta placed the envelope on the car seat got out her car and walked to the porch at 4525 South Prairie Avenue. She knocked on the door and in a few minutes the old woman they had saw at the garbage can peeked through a window facing the porch, Evetta showed her badge.

EVETTA (SHOUTING)
Chicago Police can I talk with you a few minutes?

OLD WOMAN (THE OLD WOMAN OPENED THE DOOR THE LENGTH OF THE BURGLAR CHAIN)

EVETTA (SHOWING THE WOMAN HER BADGE)
Hi, I’m detective Lunden and I am investigating the murder of your neighbor Peggy Smith, may I come in?

OLD WOMAN (STRAINING TO LOOK AT THE BADGE)
Be right with you

A few minutes later the woman opened the door
OLD WOMAN
Sorry I had to pee

Evetta entered the apartment and the old woman motioned for her to sit down. Evetta sat on a comfortable chair and the woman sat on a sheet-covered couch and introduced herself as Mrs. Watson.

EVETTA
Mrs. Watson did you know Peggy Smith?

WATSON
Yes, I’ve known her since she was a little girl; she has lived all of her life in the apartment next door. Terrible, terrible what happened to her, caught anybody yet?

EVETTA
No, not yet, but we’re working hard to catch them or him. We’re trying to get some background on Peggy, what kind of young woman was she?

WATSON
She was a quiet young girl and always respectful towards me and the other older people in the neighborhood. She was married for a while and had two beautiful children, but her and her husband couldn’t get alone, cause I could hear them arguing. After awhile I didn’t see him or the children, I figured they had broken up

EVETTA
Did ever see any men going to her apartment, like a boyfriend or something?


WATSON (SCRATCHING HER HEAD)
Yeah, there was a young man who would come by, generally on the weekends and I guess he must have spent the night ‘cause his car would be in front all night
EVETTA
Did you hear or see anything last Saturday night

WATSON (AGAIN THE OLD WOMAN SCRATCHED HER AND THOUGHT A MOMENT).
Now that you mentioned it I got up about two in the morning to pee and I looked out my bathroom window and I saw her and a man, he didn’t look like the guy who often spent the night, he was a short little man

EVETTA (EXCITED)
Could you see his face?

WATSON
No, he was real short and my bathroom window is setup high

EVETTA
See anything else?

WATSON (BLUSHING)
Yep, she was naked as a bedbug, no clothes on at all

EVETTA
We hear she walked the apartment naked a lot.

WATSON
Who knows what goin’ on with these young people, all they seem to think about is drugs and sex. She walked around in the nude a lot, I guessed she was just a hot momma and sometimes, mainly when the boyfriend was over I smelled pot comin’ from her apartment.


EVETTA
What did you do after you finished peeing?

WATSON
I looked over at her apartment, but didn’t see anything so I figured they were gettin’ it on, I went back to bed. The next morning I saw all the police cars and found out that she was killed

EVETTA
Thank you, Mrs. Watson, you’ve been a great help, here’s one of my business cards, if you think of anything else give me a call

The old woman took the card and walked Evetta to the door.
Once in the car she called Ringo and told him of the conversation.

HYDE PARK BALL HEALTH CLUB -10 April 2008
Esau worked out regularly at the Hyde Park Ball Health Club concentrating mainly on lifting weights and had developed strong arms and hands. Esau watched the short, but well-built woman as she worked out with a personal trainer. The woman was on her back lifting weights while the trainer stood over her, after ten repetitions with the weights the woman and the trainer moved to the treadmill. The trainer set the machine to a fast walking pace and walked away. Esau wore a tight body suit that revealed his well-toned physic and he stepped on the machine next to hers. She was fast walking at a frantic pace and the sweat rolled down her face and into her low-cut gym top. After fifteen minutes she got off the treadmill, took a long drink from a designer water bottle, and placed it in a pink gym bag, smiled at Esau and started to walk away. Esau got off the machine smiled and walked towards the woman.

ESAU
That was some workout, I tried to keep up but it was too fast for me.


WOMAN
Yep it is pretty fast, and you have to work up to it

ESAU
Can I buy you a drink at the juice bar?

WOMAN (LOOKING AT HER WATCH)
Sure, my name is Louise.

ESAU
Esau, when are you here?

No set dates or time whenever I have time, thanks for the drink. I’ve got to run, keep working on your speed

ESAU (BIG SMILE)
Will do

Esau watched as Deloris entered the woman locker room with the trainer, he hurriedly dress waits in his rental car. Ten minutes later Louise leaves and get into a black BMW. Esau follow her as she went west on 55th Street, enter Washington Park and exit at 47th Street. He followed as she past cheap Arab liquor stores, taverns and fast food restaurants. She pulled into a reserved parking space behind the Black Ladies Boutique at 200 East 47th Street. Esau park his vehicle down the street from the location got out and looked through the front window of the boutique. Louise was talking with customers and workers in the Boutique; he read the sign on the door that stated that the store hours were 9:30 am – 5:00 pm. He looked at his watch it was 4:15 pm, he returned to his car and waited. At 5:30 pm the woman and two other females left and an old black man secured the door and the gates. In a few minutes the woman passed him in her BMW, he followed her east on 47th Street and when she turned on Forrestville Avenue and pulled into the garage at 4916 he parked a few doors down. The woman entered her home and Esau watched as the lights came on in the house. For some unexplained reason he felt nervous and strangely alone but he felt the excitement rising, it wouldn’t be long now. Esau watched the quiet street fill with people coming home from work and children playing in the streets. He watched Louise as she watered the plotted plants on the front porch and talked with her neighbors. As dark fell concerned mothers called for their children to come inside. He watched Louise leave the house from the rear door and walk to the garage. “Now is the time,” he mumbled to himself. He was hard now and he found it difficult to walk. He quickly walked into the alley and quietly opened the gate on the rear fence, entered the yard and stood behind a large maple tree next to the garage and looked through the garage window, a dog howled a two or three houses down and others joined in. “I should cut their damn throats,” he said quietly to himself as he silently entered the garage, turned off the light and struck Louise knocking her unconscious to the floor. He pulled down her gym shorts, put on a condom and climbed atop her as Louise came to she begin to struggle. Esau placed a large knife at her throat pulled a rag from his pocket and stuffed it into her mouth.

ESAU
Shut the fuck up or I’ll cut your throat

Louise lay still as Esau tied a black nylon pair of panty hose around her neck and pulled it tighter as he entered her. He became more excited and started to ejaculate when suddenly he saw a man coming into the garage carrying a tire iron his hand. Esau jumped up, losing his erection and the condom slid off. Esau brandished the large knife at the man and when he backed up he ran out the garage jumped the fence and ran out the alley.
Esua was pissed he was just about to get his nut when that asshole came into the garage. He heard police sirens and quickly ducked into the alley and started walking north staying close to the buildings and hiding in the shadows. When he reached 47th Street he blended in with the crowd turned west and popped two more pills.


ESAU (LAUGHING)
Shit, that was close

No one on the street paid any attention to the little man who staggered every now and then, just another 47th Street drunk, they thought. Esau walked west on 47th Street until he reached Prairie Avenue he turned north, at 44th Street he turned into the alley and began looking in windows and at 4327 he saw the silhouette of a woman on the second floor. He stopped and watched. He couldn’t see her face but her body looked good. Esau studied the rickety rear porch and moved further back into the shadows and popped two more pills. He was flying and he had a hard erection. George “Bo” James a drug dealer who worked 43rd Street was also in the shadows and watched Esua as he climbed the rear porch stairs and enter the second floor apartment. It was an old depilated building in a drug and gang infested area. Evetta and I arrived at 10:00 am, police cars and an EMS vehicle were parked in front and a uniform police officer was posted on the front stairs to keep intruders out.

RINGO
What we got?

YOUNG POLICE OFFICER (VISIBLY SHAKEN)
Deceased black female, named Robin Honeywell, Thirty-two, divorced, single mom with two kids, boy three and a girl five, both kids have lived with their father in Detroit since June. Vics an executive secretary at the Learn to Read center on 47th Street. Two months pregnant and William Smith, her boyfriend was the father. Vic was found naked in bathtub, large x carved on her body and a bloody x smeared over the bathroom wall. When the victim failed to show up at work her supervisor sent a co-worker, William Johnson over to check it out. He stated that the front door was wide opened and when he went in he found her in the bathtub

The stink of unwashed bodies, urine and vomit washed over us as Evetta and I entered the dark building. We started up the stairs and stepped around a sleeping homeless man curled up in a dark corner. Another uniform police officer was posted at the second floor apartment surrounded by bright yellow tape and Crime Scene Tech was examining the door. We showed our badge to the officer and ducked under the tape and entered the small twelve-by-twelve, one bedroom apartment. It was darker in the apartment then it was in the hallway. Evetta found a light switch and flipped it, nothing happened. The only light came through the one bare window. We flicked on our flashlights and walked carefully down a narrow hallway trying not to step on anything and entered a small front room that contained a 12 inch television, a two seat brown couch and a brown old recliner. Off from the front room was the kitchen and on the stove was a pot still warm that contained greens. Further down the hall was the bedroom that contained a queen size bed, a three drawer dresser and a small clothes closet. Evetta took the closet and I started looking in the drawers.

EVETTA (LOOKING INTO THE CLOSET)
Nice wardrobe, conservative business suits and dresses, find anything?”

RINGO (OPENING THE FIRST DRAWER)
Blouses neatly folded, bras, women napkins, no panties

EVETTA (RIFLING THROUGH THE VICTIM’S CLOTHES)
No wallet or ID

The air in the bathroom which was next to the bedroom had the smell of death. I swept my light pass the sink, the toilet bowl and finally to the bathtub. As we entered the room we were careful not step in the pools of blood on the floor. The young naked woman was half sitting up in the bathtub full of bloody water, eyes bulging and foam was around her mouth and nose and one hand was resting on the bathtub rim. She was attractive despite the death mask. Her skin was very dark and she had short black hair and a nice body. Duct tape covered her mouth and a pair of brown panty hose was tied tightly around her neck and a deep x was carved in her chest and a large x smeared in blood was on the wall.

EVETTA
Jesus! Thinks it’s him?

RINGO
Yep

A young female Crime Scene Investigator accompanied by Doctor Dixon from the Medical Examiner‘s Office begin to unpack their equipment in the bedroom.

CSI INVESTIGATOR
Ok for us to start detectives?

RINGO
Yes, go ahead

Doctor Dixon squeezed himself between the toilet and the bathtub. He tenderly lifted the woman’s hand and turned it over.

DIXON (EXAMINING THE FINGERNAILS)
Hopefully we can find some hair, fiber or biological trace as he carefully wrapped her hands in plastic baggies. No rigor and the body is still warm, she’s been dead less than twelve hours

Dixon examined her neck and motioned for the CSI investigator to take pictures.

DIXON (POINTING TO THE VICTIM’S LARYNX)
There is evidence of Petechiae and sclera hemorrhage in the eyelids and the nostrils also there is a bloody discharge from the nose and mouth indicating some kind of trauma I believe the cause of death was ligature strangulation, but I’ll know more when I get her on the table

EVETTA
Let’s interview Mr. Johnson

Evetta and I found Mr. Johnson sitting in a squad car, shaking. I introduced myself and Evetta and helped him out the car and we walked to our vehicle, Mr. Johnson sat in the rear seat.

RINGO
Can you tell us what happened?

JOHNSON
Robin worked as an executive secretary at the Learn to Read Center at 47th Vincennes, she was very competent and was always at work half hour before the starting time. Today when she failed to come in, my boss Mrs. Anderson became concerned and asked me to go to her apartment and make sure she was alright. When I arrived the front door was cracked, I knocked and called her name, when I got no answer I went in and found her in the bathtub

RINGO
Did you touch or remove anything?

JOHNSON
No, but I knew she was gone. I was a Marine in Iraq during Iraqi Freedom and I know when a person is gone

EVETTA
What kind of person was Robin?


JOHNSON
A really nice young lady, always pleasant and had a big smile for everybody

EVETTA
Did she have any trouble with her co-workers?

JOHNSON
Not to my knowledge, she got along with everybody, such a tragedy

EVETTA (HANDING MR. JOHNSON HER BUSINESS CARD)
Thank you, and if you think of anything else give us a call

Evetta and I watched as Mr. Johnson walked to his car and drove off.

EVETTA
Hellava way to start your day

RINGO
Yep, certainly is, well, let’s talk to some of the neighbors

Evetta rang the door bell at 4325 South Prairie Avenue and got no answer, although she saw the curtains move, we walked to 4321 South Prairie Avenue and I knock hard on the door.

WEAK VOICE
Who’s there?

EVETTA
Police!

After a moment the door was cracked and an old woman peeped around the door, Evetta showed her, her badge and identification.
EVETTA
We’re investigating the death of Robin Honeywell, did you know her?

WOMAN (THE WOMAN PUT HER HAND TO HER MOUTH)
Oh my God

RINGO
May we come in?

The woman opened the door and directed us into the dining room and motioned for us to sit, we noticed how upset the woman was and waited a minute.

EVETTA
Did you know Robin well?

WOMAN
Yes she grew up in the neighborhood and was a nice girl, always polite and mannerable

EVETTA
Did she have many visitors, males or females?

WOMAN
No, not many but sometimes I would see a young man and her going out, but no. not to many other visitors. Matter of fact just last week she seemed so happy she told me she was pregnant and was going to get married

RINGO
Thank you, we’ll be in touch

EVETTA
We know that Robin Honeywell was about two months pregnant and William Smith, her fiancé’ was the father and has an alibi as well as her husband. There were no prints or any trace evidence, just a laceration on her head that Dixon said was caused by a blunt instrument, there were signs of sexual abuse and the murder weapon was probably one of her kitchen knives, no prints

10 June 2008
I needed a break from the X-man case, I thought about Monique and my ex-wife Elizabeth, deep down I knew Elizabeth was right, I loved my job and knew I would not be happy doing anything else, especially being a college professor. I remembered an old saying, “He who can does, he who can’t teach.”I knew the job was dangerous, but right now if something happened to me, there was no wife or children to be affected. It was 2:00 am, John and his alley cat Piper, that he found abandon in a drain lived in the Quadrangle House at 67th South Shore Drive. It was an expensive adult only building and most of the tenants were professionals; school teachers, police officers, doctors and lawyers. John lived on the 24th Floor and all of his windows faced Lake Michigan. It was a warm night and a soft breeze off the lake was pressing through the screened window along with the bright moonlight. Miles Davis, his favorite artist was doing his thing on the CD player while he was winning an Internet chess game with some character named “TheBobby,” when his cell phone ranged. I looked at the phone and knew nothing good comes from a 2:00 am phone call and picked up the receiver.

LIEUTENANT O'SHEA (SCREAMING)
I think we got another one

RINGO
Where?


O’SHEA
4650 South Calumet, your partner is on the way

RINGO
On the way

RINGO (TYPED ON THE COMPUTER)
You win, gotta go

FADE IN:
The weather had changed and I remembered and old Chicago saying, “If don’t like the weather, wait a few minutes it will change.”The winds had picked up and rain clouds were closing in as I parked in front of 4650 South Calumet Avenue. South Calumet Avenue like many of the old buildings in Bronzeville was once an upper-class neighborhood. The once single family homes have been converted into kitchenettes or three-flat apartments.

EXT: 4650 South Calumet Avenue.
Police officers had moved a large crowd across the street, a combination of concerned citizens, neighborhood crazies and the usual sullen homeboys and drug dealers, cursing at the police, a woman and two homeless people were standing around a blazing fire in a trash barrel as sparks leaped into the cold air.

SHOUT
Get the fuck out, pig motherfuckers

Ringo looked around to where the shout came from and saw a young boy maybe ten, swaggering off with a group of other young boys. A crime scene had been established that included the entire three flat structures and I told one of the Crime Scene Unit technicians to video tape, photograph and sketch the entire crime scene. Officers were stationed to keep the curious away as teams of detective began canvassing the building and neighborhood. As I retrieved my flashlight from the trunk the clouds erupted and I got soaked to the bone as I jumped over pools of dirty water gathering in the gutter and hurried across the broken sidewalk. Inside the building lobby gang graffiti, smoke and water stains covered the molded wall that reflected their lost and forgotten tenants.

RINGO (CAREFULLY WALKING UP THE BROKEN STAIRS AND TALK TO A YOUNG OFFICER)
Who found the body?

YOUNG OFFICER
The maintenance man, he’s inside being interviewed by one of the detectives

As I passed the uniformed officers and ducked under the bright yellow crime scene tape, I smelled the bitter afterglow of sweat, stale cigarette smoke and the sweet odor of marijuana that I found so disgusting.
When I reached the second floor I noticed an apartment with no door. I stopped and scanned the room with my flashlight and looked inside. A shabby dressed man was under a pile of newspapers spread over the bare floor and there was a glob of shit in a filthy toilet.

RINGO (SHAKING THE MAN)
Wake-up!

After a few hard shakes the man opened blood-shot eyes.

MAN
What the fuck?

RINGO (PULLING THE MAN TO HIS FEET)
How long you been in here?

MAN (RUBBING HIS EYES)
All night

RINGO
Did you see or hear anything unusual?
MAN
Fuck naw, I was pretty fucked-up, I just crashed

I summoned one of the officers who escorted the man from the building. On the third floor a two man forensic team was foraging for clues around the apartment, collecting and bagging items that might be significant. The maintenance man, George Wills was talking with a two detectives. He was short with stooped shoulders and a mat of dirty gray hair. His dark red lips had the signs of a wine drinker and looked to be in his late fifties.

RINGO (TALKING WITH DETECTIVE RODRIQUEZ)
What you got?

DETECTIVE RODRIQUEZ (THE DETECTIVE FLIPPED THROUGH HIS NOTEBOOK)
Mr. Wills stated that he live in the basement and is the janitor, rent collector, maintenance man and security for the building. He further states that he had informed the victim last week that he wanted to exterminate her apartment and she suggested today because she had an early morning class we were just leaving to go to his office

The maintenance man led us into a large well-organized basement apartment/office and gave me Cynthia White’s folder. There was a copy of her pictured Indiana Driver’s license that revealed that she twenty-one and a signed six month lease three months earlier, in the employment box on the lease application she had marked “Student.

RINGO
What kind of young lady was she?

WILLIS
Quiet, good tenant.

RINGO
Boyfriends, friends?


WLLIS
I don’t think she had a steady fellow, but on some Fridays a group of her friends would came over, look like they were studying because they were all carrying books and book bags

RINGO
Thanks, I’ll send someone over to get the folder so we can make copies

I returned to the third floor apartment and entered the small bathroom, the smell of blood and putrefied flesh was overpowering. I watched as some of the younger officers rushed out the room and emptied their stomach in the kitchen sink. I was reading the preliminary report when Doc Dixon, Charley Turner and Evetta Lunden arrived and a few minutes later Patricia Woods arrived. Captain Patricia Woods blond hair was tied in a bun and stuffed under a Chicago Bulls basketball cap. She was shapely but not especially good looking. She was white and the Ist Deputy Superintendent trouble shooter and reporting directly to him. She knew John Ringo only by reputation and had followed some of his cases. She noticed how handsome he was and the air of confidence and strength he generated. Based on what she heard, she was curious about this police officer with a PH, D and worked the most ghastly homicides. He seemed to be respected by the other officers, crime scene people and the EMS personnel. She noticed his easy going matter, shaking hands with some officers, patting shoulders and occasionally sharing a smile, he obviously had charm and charisma. Patricia was smart and knew when to be feminine and when to be tough. Unlike some of the other female police officers who received promotions or good assignments by kissing asses or flirting with the bosses she earned her way by hard work, working harder and working longer hours than her male colleagues, and she never dated other cops. I moved closer to the bathtub and knelt over the blood soaked body. The victim was an attractive dark brown skin woman with short black hair, a supple body and large breast. Her naked body was in the tub a black, knotted pair of panty hose was tied tightly around her neck, her bulging unseeing eyes seemed to be looking directly at me and pleading for me the save her. The trademark X was cut into her torso and smeared in blood on the wall. I felt a tremendous wave of grief flood through me and felt dizzy, my legs went weak, a familiar reaction to an all-too-familiar sight. Charley immediately went to work taking photos and dusting for prints, Dixon donned latex gloves, white evidence suit with foot booties and began examining the body

DIXON (GENTLY FEELING THE VICTIM’S ARMS)
Look likes a semi-advanced state of rigor, I’d estimate she was killed five or six hours ago and there is a bruise on her forehead

Evetta and I carefully walked down the hardwood floor hallway leading from the bathroom. Evetta pointed to what appeared to be scuff marks on the floor. I placed an evidence marker near the marks and we continued walking down the hall. On the right was a small kitchen; there were no dishes in the sink and the floor smelled like it had recently been mopped with Lysol. The front room contained only throw pillows a television, a small table and a CD player it was neat I noticed as we continued down the hallway. The bedroom was to the left of the hallway and contained a queen-sized bed, an opened closet door and a dresser drawer; I carefully opened the three drawers and looked inside.

RINGO
Typical ladies things; perfumes, tampons and the like but no underwear, panties or brassieres

EVETTA (LOOKIG AT THE BED)
Look like she had laid her clothes out on the bed
I’ve got a wallet, stuffed under some women slips
Driver’s license, social security card, a pictured Chicago State Student Identification Card and a Hyde Park Bally Club membership card.

Evetta placed the wallet in an evidence baggie.I noticed that the pillows and the covers on the bed seemed ruffled and there was a small spot of blood and a white stain on the top sheet. The seams in the cheap shag carpet covering the floor also seemed disturbed and had an imprint. I placed evidence markers on the bed and the carpet and we backed out the room. I waived to Turner who joined us in the hallway. Charley Turner, the best crime scene technician I knew, was a big black man, over six-five and 220 pounds of solid muscle. He was a star tight-end at Notre-Dame, until a cheap shot tackle in his senior year blew out his knees.

RINGO
Take pictures of where I’ve placed markers, might be important

Turner did as directed and was exiting the bathroom and pointed to the kitchen. Doctor Dixon was removing his evidence suit when me and Evetta came into kitchen and sat at the kitchen table. Doctor Dixon wore green khaki pants and a heavy black shirt that looked two sizes too large, his white undershirt showed through; I didn’t know anyone still wore undershirts.

RINGO
What’s the verdict?

DIXON
She has a large bruise on the back of her head, look like a blunt instrument which probably knocked her unconscious, death was due to strangulation and it appears the sexual assault was post mortem

RINGO
What do you make of all the victims being posed in the bathtub?

DIXON
You know, once upon a time I attempted to play Sherlock Holmes and was quickly put in my place by a young lieutenant, now all I do collect any evidence during the autopsy that might be helpful and give it over to you guys. But since you are both good friends, I’ll try to answer your question. The killer is performing some sort of sadistic ritual by the way he carefully position the body, he’s satisfying some urge or trying to forget something, shows all the signs of a narcissistic sociopath, a new twist, I don’t think the victim was killed in the bathtub or bathroom and I think she was raped before and after she was killed, The bruises on her neck indicate that maybe the panty hose was used to kill her the knot is nearly as tight as we found on the others.

EVETTA
Could the incision have killed her?

DIXON
Could be, I guess, I’ll know more after we get her on the table

EVETTA
We found some scuff marks on the floor leading to the bathroom and blood and maybe semen in the bedroom and a wallet

Evetta opened the baggie and removed the license from the wallet.

EVETTA
Name Cynthia White, date of birth June 1, 1990, that would make her eighteen. Maybe the killer accosted the victim in the bedroom, she fought and he hit her on the head with something, that could account for the blood, and the bed seemed disturbed, maybe that where he raped her leaving the white stains, maybe semen

TURNER (POINTING TO A LAMP)
I found something, look like blood and hair on its base, I also found a slight print on the lamp

RINGO (HUGGING CHARLEY)
You‘re the best fuckin ‘tech” in the department

CHARLEY (WIDE GRIN)
Aw shuck

I welcomed the cold rain and wind as Evette and I left the building and wished it could wash away the smell of death. I noticed Emile Smiles a police reporter for the Sun-Times and William Hopps from the Chicago Tribune standing behind the police tapes among the drug dealers, a CBS news van was parking. Another young black woman raped and killed was more than news once the word got out reporters, anchor people and news producer would use it as their lead-ins for weeks. We hurried to my car and watched as the techs brought out Cynthia White’s in a body bag.
Esau, wearing all black clothing was in the rear of the crowd and watched as the police officers tried to maintain order. He knew they had found the body of the beautiful young girl on the 3rd floor. He remembered how she had smelled, how she had tried to fight him before he hit her with the lamp, knocking her unconscious long enough for him to undress and tied her spread eagle to the bedpost. He could still see the lust in her eyes when she awaken and felt his hard body on top of her plunging deeper and deeper into her bleeding and swollen vagina. “Are you virgin he asked her,” but she didn’t respond, so he kept plunging deeper and deeper while he placed the silk panty hose around her throat and the deeper he plunged the tighter her pulled the stocking and when he climaxed he pulled it even tighter until she stopped breathing.
He plunged the knife repeatedly into her neck and stomach and, carved an X into her chest. He untied her, pulled her off the bed and drugged her body into the bathroom where he gently propped her up in the tub and smeared an X with her blood on the wall. Before he left he took a Polaroid snapshot of her naked, dead body.

INT-AUTOPSY ROOM
Evetta and I entered the large brightly lit, cold sterile autopsy room and Doctor Dixon waived and beckoned at us. His usually bright and cherry face bore a look of concern, we donned the scrubs, gloves and masks given to us by the doctor and followed him as he went over to Cynthia White’s half-covered body lying on the cold steel table, drainage holes were on the sides and a water hose was attached to the table. On another stainless steel table was an organ scale and trays of surgical instruments, the smell of dead bodies was very intent in the small, confined room. Evetta started to cover her mouth and nose even though we were masked, Doctor Dixon stopped her.

DIXON
There are germs everywhere in the room Evetta, so don’t touches your face with your hands and trying to stop the smell with your hands will only make it worse. In a couple of minutes your senses will go dead and the smell will go away, just take short breaths. I’ve noticed at some of the scenes the officers kept leaving the room to get fresh air and then coming back, the only thing they were doing was giving their sense of smell an opportunity to return

A young black woman maybe, thirty, removed the white sheet that covered the body of Cynthia White and we all looked down at the once ebony colored face now an ash white and disfigured in death. The young woman seemed so out of place in this place. The woman clicked on an overhead light and began taking photographs from different angles, ten minutes later a young white woman began cleaning the body with what smelled like a strong antiseptic, and positioning it on the table. Dixon introduced me and Evetta to Ms. Walker and Mrs. Edelman, his dieners or Anatomical Pathology Technolologist.

DIXON
They will assist me in eviscerating the body and reconstruction after the autopsy

One of the women turned on a bright light and positioned it over the top of the cadaver and the other woman turned on another bright light over the bottom of the body. I had witnessed numerous autopsies but never got use to them; I looked at Evetta and wondered how she would handle her first autopsy.

DIXON
Since this your first autopsy Detective Lunden I will explain the process. As I am sure you are aware, we are required by law to conduct an autopsy in all cases of sudden or violent deaths. The principle aim of an autopsy is to determine the cause of death and the state of health of the person before death and do not require permission or consent of relatives of the deceased. Before the actual autopsy begins an external examination is conducted. The body is removed from a sterile evidence bag and X-rayed and the bag is later examined for evidence and X-rayed. If the body is clothed, the clothing is also examined, if it is believed that there may be evidence on the hands, such as gunpowder or dermal specimen, the hands are placed in a separate bag and taped shut around the wrist. The dieners photograph the body and ultraviolet light is used to search the body surfaces for any evidence not readily visible to the naked eye. The body is then cleaned and washed with an antiseptic; we’ll take hair and nails samples and later depending on the circumstances, radiographic also images may be taken. Once the external evidence is collected, a general description of the body as regards ethnicity, sex, age, hair color, and etc. is dictated into a recorder.

Ms. Walker slid a “body block” under the back of the body, causing the arms and neck to fall backwards stretching and pushing the chest upward. Dixon walked over to the body and removed a pair of latex gloves from his pocket; he rubbed some dusting powder on his hands stretched the rubber gloves and snapped them on. Doctor Dixon pointed to the woman’s chest.

DIXON
In this position the chest is easier to open and provides maximum exposure to the trunk. We are now ready to begin the internal examination where we will examine the internal organs for signs of trauma or other indications of the cause of death. Do you have a weak stomach, detective?
Evetta shook her head as Doctor Dixon removes a scalpel from a table next to the body and positioned the X-ray machine over the body.

DIXON
An X-ray is always taken of the entire body before we start the procedure

After taking the X-ray the doctor made a large and deep Y-incision, starting at the top of each shoulder and running down the front of the chest, meeting at the lower point of the breastbone and extending to the pubic bone and removed the organs, muscles and tissue samples, they were weighted and placed in a black bag and placed back into the cavity.
He next examined Peggy’s genitals.

DIXON
There were signs of sexual abuse; necrophilia, the vagina and the rectum were damaged but no sperm, perhaps he used a condom, and she has never had a child or been pregnant. In all strangulation cases death is caused by an increased hypoxic state in the brain. In manual strangulation cases this approach allows maximum exposure of the neck structure, which I will examine for fingertip bruises that could indicate if the attacker used one hand or both hands, I am also looking for linear fingernail scratches from the assailant or the victim when attempting to remove the attacker hands from the neck and we will check under the victim’s fingernails for any skin evidence. Strangulation can cause reflex cardiac arrest and sustained pressure can cause congestion and blueness of the tongue, pharynx and larynx. In examining the body as you can see there is a little blood coming from the incision, that’s because the pull of gravity is producing the only blood pressure at this point since there is no cardiac functionality. Most of your cases though are ligature strangulations, I used a laser on the neck to look for ligature marks, if none appear evident under normal light and I find hemorrhaging in the muscles of the neck, the hyoid bone and the thyroid and the cricoids cartilages that indicates they were fractured. Notice the subject face, there are signs of cyanosis and petechiae, which indicate the strangulation pressure was applied for more than twenty seconds, ligature marks is a vital part of the evidence, as it often reproduces the patterns and dimensions of the ligature itself, the type of ligature, i.e. rope, soft fabric, etc. If the killer is subsequently arrested and the ligature is recovered on his person or in his home the ligature can be compared with the marks on the victim’s neck.

The doctor placed the scalpel back on the table and removed an electric saw. He switched on an overhead microphone and spoke in a soft voice and said while holding a small saw. “I will use Stryker Saw named after the manufacturer of the tool to pry opens the chest cavity and saw through the ribs on the lateral side of the chest cavity to allow the sternum and attached ribs to be lifted as one chest plate.


DIXON
This is done so that the heart and lungs can be seen in what we call “in situ” or in complete and are not damaged during the opening.

Doctor Dixon carefully and expertly removed the additional internal organs; each was weighed and placed into a container containing a foggy liquid.

DIXON
Well that’s it, my assistants will complete the examination of the organs and reconstruct the body, how you doing detective?

EVETTA (LOOKING PALE)
Ok

DIXON
Let’s go to my office, I’ve got just what you need

Doctor Dixon directed us to two oversized cushioned chairs while he went to an ornate wooden cabinet and removed a bottle of Remy Martin Brandy and three crystal glasses, he placed the glasses on the desk, poured a hefty shot in each.

DIXON
Down the hatch

We all gulped down the strong drink and me and the doctor laughed as Evetta coughed.

RINGO
What was the cause of death?”

DIXON
She died from massive internal bleeding from the multiple stab wounds that severed her aorta and left lung, she was dead before he placed the stocking around her neck, we’ve got the DNA results back on Peggy’s boyfriend, no matches on any of the murders, but we found that Peggy was about eight weeks pregnant and the fetus’s DNA matched her boyfriend.

EVETTA
Shit, Well that’s another charge against that monster

There was a knock at the door and an assistant stuck his head through.

ASSISTANT
Excuse me doctor, but Peggy Smith’s husband in on five-four, he’s calling from Detroit to find out about his wife

DIXON (NODDING)
Excuse me

We listened as he patiently spent twenty minutes explaining what had happened to the man’s wife, but he left out the gory details, he also told the husband that the body could be released in a week. He hung up, took a nail file from the drawer and began cleaning his nails. After a minute of going through the ritual he placed the file back into the drawer and rubbed his thin, narrow face.

DIXON
It’s tough enough telling a relative about a natural death, doubly hard when it’s a murder victim

EVETTA
Nice job, you have


DIXON
Sometimes it sucks

I looked at the little man, who looked so frail, but his eyes had intensity and intelligence and there was tenderness and concern for people and I considered him one of best friends, but I never could understand how so gentle a man could spend hours with dead bodies

EVETTA
If Cynthia White is one of his victim’s maybe we can get a DNA match

DIXON
Hopefully we can get some of his DNA from her, My techs are taking vaginal swaps as we speak

RINGO
Who knows what he’ll do next, if it’s not him we’ve got a serious copycat

TECHNITION (KNOCK ON DOOR AND ENTERS)
We’re ready to close her up doctor and there was sperm

DIXON (LOOKING AT EVETTA)
Want to watch?

EVETTA
No thanks; two hours with a corpse is enough for me
We left usually we would go to lunch, but not today.

INT: SPECIAL CRIMES BUREAU –LATE AFERNOON
When we returned to our office all of the detectives were crowded around the television, Reverend Clarence Wilson was being interviewed by a black female reporter named Irene Maudesa.


IRENE MAUDESA
Reverend Wilson, I understand that members of your congregation is planning on starting a community watch, can you comment please?

The reverend was a tall, heavy set man in his late fifties with brilliant white teeth and his church The First Church of Deliverance located at 43rd South Wabash had a congregation of over two thousand. Speaking in a measured tone common to most Baptist ministers, answered.

REVEREND WILSON
Yes we are, members of my church and other concerned members of the community is outraged over the rapes and murders of our young black women. This cowardly monster don’t have the guts to deal with men, he prefer helpless women

VOICE IN THE CROWD
Street justice is what he needs and if we catch that asshole, won’t need no cops,” someone else shouted

REVEREND WILSON
I believe in the criminal justice system but either the police are incompetent or don’t care, either way it’s time for us, the black community to protect ourselves. I and the families of the murdered young women has formed an action committee to pressure the police department to catch this mad dog

IRENE MAUDESA
I also understand that you have had meetings with the mayor and the Chief of Police, what are they saying?

REVEREND WILSON
Same old song and dance that we are doing everything we can

IRENE MAUDESA
Have you met with Lieutenant O’Shea, head of the Special Crimes Bureau?

REVEREND WILSON
I’ve called his office on ten occasions and I’m always told he’s unavailable

We continued to my office when we were called into the lieutenant’s office. Lieutenant O’Shea was looking at the news program when we entered, his face was a bleak red as he paced around his desk.

LIEUTENANT O’SHEA
Who does that black mutherfucker think he is?

RINGO
Why won’t you talk to him?

LIEUTENANT O’SHEA
Fuck him; I ain’t got to explain shit to him

EVETTA
That might not be a good idea, Reverend Wilson has a lot of clout in the community and downtown, matter of fact I hear the chief is a member of his church

The lieutenant sat down and sweat beaded on his forehead.

LIEUTENANT O’SHEA
Where did you hear that?


EVETTA
That’s the word on the street

LIEUTENANT O’SHEA
Listen I want you two to go see him and assure we’re doing the best we can, ok? Now bring me up to date, find out anything at the M.E.’s office?

EVETTA
Well we found sperm in Cynthia White indicating she may have been raped just like the others, but we have to check that out, maybe we can get some DNA from that. Also Robin Honeywell was pregnant

LIEUTENANT O’SHEA
Shit, what we know about Robin?

EVETTA
Robin’s boyfriend alibi is solid, he worked a double the night she was killed and he and some other co-workers went to a promotion party at a private club and was there until 0900 Sunday, and his DNA matched the fetus. Our legs checked out her ex-husband in Detroit, he and his children were visiting his mother in Cleveland and hadn’t talked or seen his ex in months, but he also said that she liked to walk around the house naked and he had warned her about that,” Evetta said.

LIEUTENANT O’SHEA
Who was the father of the baby, the husband or the boyfriend?


RINGO
According to the DNA report, the boyfriend was.

LIEUTENANT O’SHEA (PULLING A FILE FROM HIS DRAWER)
I got a call from the FBI today and we told me that VICAP identified a February, 2000 victim in Gary who matches our guy’s profile, a young black whore named Rita Maxwell was found raped, strangled, and propped up in the bathtub, a large bloody X was smeared on the wall and there is another unsolved rape and homicide in Gary that same year of a high school girl

EVETTA
Where was she found?

LIEUTENANT O’SHEA
In an abandon warehouse, a bloody X was on the wall

RINGO
This guy has been busy

O'Shea opened another file on his desk

LIEUTENANT O’SHEA
Peggy Smith was twenty-five, lived at 4555 South King Drive, 2nd floor and worked at a bookstore on 51st Street. Mariah Williams, twenty-three, lived at 4920 South Calumet Avenue IST floor and worked as a barmaid at a Westside joint. Tonya James, twenty-four worked as a teacher’s aide at Willard Elementary School lived at 4635 South Wabash Avenue IST floor. Tonya James twenty- four lived at 4220 South King Drive, Its floor, and Cynthia white, eighteen, lived at 4650 South Calumet Avenue 3rd floor, and a freshman student at Chicago State University. Possible victims, Rita Maxwell a black whore in Gary, Indiana and a young Gary high school girl named Mary both raped and killed in 1999. Also I got a report from Dixon's officer and the bloody X on the mirrors in all of the Vics bathrooms contained two different blood types and are being analysis for possible DNA and just got a report of an attempt rape, vic, Louise Johnson. Louise Johnson, the oldest attempted victim at twenty-six lived alone in a house at 4916 South Forrestville Avenue and was the owner of the Black Ladies Boutique on 47th Street, could be X-Man, check it out.

LIEUTENANT O’SHEA
We’ve got to catch this asshole and quick, I don’t want this investigation ran on the front pages of the Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times. Get back to work.

We left and got in the car
RINGO
Let’s take a ride to Louise Johnson place

EVETTA
On the way

Evetta removed a folder from her briefcase and gave it to me

RINGO
Louise Johnson, twenty-five, single, owns the successful Black Ladies Boutique on east 47th Street, MBA from Indiana University, mother, college professor at Westwood University in River Oaks, father deceased. Next door neighbor heard noises coming from Louise garage and when he went to investigate he observed Louise lying on the floor struggling with a little man on top of her holding a large knife, her shorts and sweat shirt was on the floor and he noticed the man wearing a condom. A pair of panty hose was tied around her neck and a rag stuffed into her mouth. He yelled at the man and as he approached the man threaten him with the knife and ran out the garage and jump over the rear fence

The block contained well-kept single-family homes. Louise house was brown brick with white trimming and was well hidden by tall oak pine trees and dense landscape, the nearest house was twenty-feet away. A decorative steel fence with a latched gate sat as a sentinel in front of the back yard, Evetta ranged the front doorbell and it was answered by an attractive, well-built woman. Evetta showed the woman her identification.

EVETTA
Hi I’m Detective Lunden and this Sergeant Ringo from the Chicago Police Department we’ll like to talk to you about the incident the other evening

LOUISE
Please come in

Louise led them into a large front room and motioned them to sit.

RINGO
What happened?


LOUISE
Well, I left Bally’s Health Club about 4:00pm and drove to my shop on 47th Street. After closing the shop I came home, did a little puttering around the house and went to the garage. I didn’t hear anyone come in and suddenly the lights went out and I was knocked unconscious. After a while, I don’t know how long, I awaken and this man was raping me, I tried to get him off me but he was too strong and he put a big knife at my throat and told me to shut up or he would cut my throat. He then put a filthy rag in my mouth and tied a pair of pantyhose around my neck and began choking me. I had nearly passed out when I heard someone come into the garage. The man got off me and I saw him run out the garage when I came to my senses I recognized George Peppers my next door neighbor who drove me to Provident Hospital. The police brought me home, took a report and processed the garage for evidence

EVETTA
Did you get a look at him

LOUISE
I really didn’t get a good look at him, but I could tell he was a small man, but strong, but I keep getting this impression that I’ve seen him somewhere


EVETTA
Let us know if you think of anything, no matter how small. In the meantime we’ll check with the hospital for additional information and is it ok to check out the garage

LOUISE
No problem

EXT: BACK YARD
The large back yard lawn was well kept and manicured and I noticed a security camera on a post aimed at the building. We passed an expensive-looking covered propane barbecue cooker as we rounded the corner. A wheeled wooded cart sat next to the cooker that contained tongs and other grilling items, we continued to the one car-garage, a garden hose was neatly wrapped around a hose holder attached to the garage wall. I looked around the yard, pots of colorful flowers lined the redwood deck and along the edges of the yard were planted flowers and a circular bird feeder hung from a tree branch. I glanced through a basement window into a room that contained a pool table, a large plasma television and other furniture. A security camera hung o top of the garage.

EVETTA
Anything on the security camera?

LOUISE
I doubt it, it’s not working

We entered the garage, a tool holder containing various tools rested in a corner. A BMW took up most of the floor space and a ten-speed bicycle hung on two brackets on a wall. A set of weights was in a box on a worktable and a Bally flyer. On the dusty cement of the concrete floor, amid countless faint impressions left by shoes, I spotted the outline of a small shoe print and a large X drew in the dust.

RINGO
Call Turner and tell him to get over here right away and tell him that we’ve got something

A half-hour later Charley Turner arrived and made impressions of the shoe print and the X.

TURNER
Seems the same size of the impression we found in White’s bedroom, a little man, I’d say about five feet, wait a second!

We watched as Turner removed some debris that covered a condom. He carefully held the condom by the rim and looked inside

TURNER
Look like sperm

RINGO
Great get it to the lab, maybe we can get some DNA, let’s see if we can get a comparison.

We walked across the alley a man was placing garbage into the can

EVETTA
Mr. Pepper?

MR. PEPPER
Yes?

George Pepper was fifty-five years old and a big man well over six feet, we identified ourselves.

EVETTA What happened with Mrs. Johnson?
MR. PEPPER
My garage is directly across the alley from Mrs. Johnson and I usually watch out for her when she comes home. Well, the night of the incident I was cleaning out some of the junk in my garage when I saw this little guy in her yard, he didn’t look like her type and he seemed to be sneaking around. I saw the garage light go on and I heard Mrs. Johnson humming some song, well anyway, shortly thereafter the lights went out and I heard what sounded like a struggle coming from the garage, I got a tire iron and went to investigate and I saw this little asshole raping Mrs. Johnson and had something tied around her neck, when he saw me he jumped off her and waived a big knife at me, but before I could crack him with the iron and he ran out hard dick and all. I helped Mrs. Johnson to her feet and took her to the hospital

EVETTA (TAKING NOTES)
Did you get a good look at him?

MR.PEPPER
Sure did, he was a little fuck, I don’t think he was five feet tall, light brown skin but well built, like someone who works out

RINGO
Think you could identify him again

MR. PEPPER
I’m pretty sure I can


RINGO
You’ve been a great help, Mr. Pepper, I’ll have a detective take you to our office and hopefully you can pick this pervert out

As we were heading to their car an excited Louise ran from her house

LOUISE
I remembered where I saw him; he’s a member of the health club

INT: BALLY HEALTH CLUB

When we arrived at the Bally Health Club an attractive black female receptionist greeted us as we approached her desk, her name tag read Julie. She was wearing a white see-through and a low-cut blouse that showed her black athletic bra.

JULIE
Hello there, here for a workout?

EVETTA (FLASHED HER BADGE)
Not today, but I’ve got a question for you, can you check your records and see if a Louise Johnson and a Cynthia White is one of your member?

JULIE (SHE TURNED TO HER COMPUTER)
Sure, one moment. Here she is, Louise Johnson, joined the club in 2007, White joined in February this year

EVETTA
Can you tell us the last time they were here?


JULIE (TYPING)
White two weeks ago, Johnson two days ago

RINGO ( SHOWING THE RECEPTIONIST PHOTOGRAPHS OF LOUISE AND CYNTHIA)
Is this them?

JULIE (LOOKING AT THE PHOTOS)
Yep, that’s them

EVETTA (PUT HER ARMS UNDERMINE AS WE WALKED TO THE WEIGHT ROOM)
Thanks,

EVETTA (CONT)
Not your type

RINGO (SMILING)
Yes, ma’am

Lee, the personal trainer was sitting on a workout bench sipping water from a bottle. She smiled and rose when she saw me and Evetta.

RINGO
I didn’t know you worked out here

LEE
Yeah, I split my time between the one in River Oaks and here. Guess you’re not her for a workout

RINGO (SHOWING HER THE PHOTOGRAPH OF LOUISE AND PEGGY)
Not today Lee, got a question for you, do you know these woman?


LEE (LOOKING AT THE PICTURES)
Yes, that’s Louise; I worked her out a couple of times, I’ve see the other one but I don’t know her she was in the aerobic class

EVETTA
What kind of person is Louise?

LEE
Kind of bossy, but very intense. She an adrenaline addict and she pushed her body to the limits

RINGO
Did she associate with anyone in here?

LEE
A couple of times I saw her in the Health Bar with a good looking little guy, I don’t know his name

EVETTA
What about White, ever see her with anyone?

LEE (LEE THOUGH FOR A MOMENT)
No not really. There is a lot of predators in these clubs trying to get over, they think they are real ladies man, real smooth and got a line of bullshit from here to Gary Milwaukee

EVETTA
They ever try the bullshit on you?

LEE (WINKING AT RINGO)
Hell yes, they try but only once, I like real men, like the Ringo, not boy toys


RINGO
You’re going to make me blush

EVETTA
Go on, you look cute when you blush

RINGO
Thanks Lee, see you later

We returned to the receptionist and I turned on the charm.

RINGO (FLASHING AN ENORMOUS SMILE)
One last request
The receptionist rose from her seat, revealing well-muscled legs and a shapely body.

JULIE (SMILING AND IGNORING EVETTA.)
Anything for you detective

RINGO (STILL FLASHING A BIG SMILE)
Do you know if a little guy, maybe five feet or so is a member of the center?

The receptionist bent over her computer displaying a well-rounded ass. Evetta looked at me and shook her head.

JULIE
Yeah, there a short little guy who is a regular and flirty, he’s always sniffing behind some woman real strange, he always looks like he high off something.”


EVETTA
Got an address and phone number


JULIE (IGNORING EVETTA AND TYPING ON THE COMPUTER)
Yep, Esau Sneed, 5251 South King Drive, no phone

EVETTA
How often is he here?

JULIE (ADJUSTING HER LOW CUT TOP)
Two or three times a week, work out in the weight room generally

RINGO (LEANING ACROSS THE DESK AND LOOKING DOWN JULIE’S LOW CUT BLOUSE)
Here’s my card it got my cell and home number, give me a call the next time he’s here and maybe we can have dinner sometime

JULIE (SMILING JULIE SLOWLY SLID THE CARD IN HER BRA)
Sounds like a winner to me, I certainly will call and take you up on that dinner

As we were walking away Evetta looked at me, rolled her eyes.

EVETTA
You’re the biggest bullshiter I know

RINGO (SMILING)
I learned from the best

QUADRANGLE HOUSE -2 October 2008

The doorman ranged my apartment and announced that a Monique Brown had arrived; I was at my apartment door and watched as she walked from the elevator. She carried a large bag, but still had the grace of an African princess. She wore a white pleaded skirt and a green pleated blouse, gold earrings danced from her lobes.

MONIQUE
Dinner time, I’m counting on the fact that you have probably not had a good, old-fashioned, soul food meal in a while

RINGO
Good guess

MONIQUE (POINTING TO A BAG)
Show me the kitchen and get out the way and
get a bottle of the Chianti out and let it breathe

I did as ordered and sat down on the kitchen island chair and watched her as she unpacked the bag. A sudden cool breeze blew through the slightly opened window and captured the scent of her perfume.

RINGO
Like Miles?

MONIQUE
Heck yeah, got “Porgy and Bess?

I put the CD on and watched as Monique began placing microwave food containers on the island counter and removing lids.

MONIQUE
Smothered chicken and gravy, steamed rice and vegetables, removing another lid she said, home made buttermilk biscuits

RINGO (HANDING HER A GLASS OF WINE)
This is a treat. A toast to home cooking and the chef
Monique slowly sipped the wine, humming her approval.

MONIQUE
I know white wine is supposed to go with fish and chicken, but the gravy makes the meal unique, so the red is fine

I got the silverware and plates out the cabinet and sat them on the island as Monique placed the containers in the microwave and swayed to Miles version of “Summertime.” She took another sip of wine and retrieved two scented candles from her bag, melted the ends and placed them in candle holders. The microwaves timer went off and she removed the containers. I topped off our wine glasses and we stared each other through the light of the flickering candles.

MONIQUE
Dinner is almost ready, ready to eat?

RINGO
Hm, something is smellin’ real good

Monique placed heaping amounts of food into our plates and sat.
After dinner I cleared the table and we went into the living room and I positioned some large soft pillows next to the large window as Monique brought in the candles, we stood and looked out the window, the weather was warm and the bright moon caste an eerie glow on the dark waters of the lake. Muted voices could be heard drifting up from the sidewalk and a sailboat could be seen in the distance and Piper rubbed against Monique’s legs.

MONIQUE
How you doing John?

RINGO
Ok, but this X-Man thing is starting to get to me. We know for sure he’s responsible for at least five young women in the prime of life cut down by a damn maniac

MONIQUE
I’m concerned about you. Lieutenant O’Shea is struttin’’ around like a chicken with its head cut off and getting on everyone’s nerves and blaming you for not catching this monster. In my profession we seek reasons for a person’s actions, the why-fors for their behavior, we need completion just as police officers do and too many incompletes in one’s life and the stress and tensions can become too much to bear

RINGO
That’s why so many cops gets divorced and commit suicide. I’ve isolated myself, being a cop is all I ever wanted to be, but being a cop consumes you, entirely, slowly but surely. It had taken everything out of my life, when I found out that my ex-wife was having an affair, I was devastated and angry, and I kept asking myself why. When I confronted her she told me that I was married to the job not her, and when I think about it, she was right. The long hours, the coldness and aloofness that comes with being a police officer must be hard on any relationship; I am beginning to resent all that being a cop have taken from me

I took another sip of wine and suddenly felt pleasantly light head. I sat on a pillow and Monique joined me.

RINGO (CONT)
What about you, how did you get involved in police work?

MONIQUE
After graduating from the University of South Carolina I opened a clinic in my home town and most of my patients were neurotic, old white women and court referrals. One of these referrals was an eighteen-year-old black girl name Jean. Jean was abandon when she was three and was placed in a foster home when she was five. Her foster parents worked and she was left in the care of the foster mother father who was in his late seventies. From the time she was five until she was thirteen he sexually molested her. At first he made her give him blowjobs while he fondled her and masturbated, as she got older it was intercourse. As strange as it seems for her to get pregnant by such an old man, she did when she was fourteen. When she told the foster parents who the father was, of course they didn’t believe her and the foster mother aborted the baby, herself. After that, the girl became insolent and hard to handle; she started staying out and was gang raped by a group of young boys when she was fifteen. Finally, the foster parents went to court and she was sent to an orphanage where two elderly attendants raped her. When I got her she was all screwed up and angry, and I believe she was schizophrenic. I considered recommending she be institutionalized, but I thought I could help her, big mistake. She attended counseling for about two years and then she stopped coming. About a year later she entered a nursing home and killed three old men and was subsequently killed by the police. I felt guilty, I made a mistake that caused the life of four people, and she should have been institutionalized

RINGO
There was no way for you to know what she was going to do

MONIQUE
But I am a professional, I should have seen the signs, but I didn’t. After that I started researching how police departments dealt with people with mental problems, and to my surprise most of them didn’t. Their answer to dealing with a mentally handicapped person who was violent was a bullet in the brain or a jail cell

Monique took another sip of wine and Ringo noticed the tears. He cupped her in his hands and kissed away the tears. After his divorce Ringo had always thought that nothing or no one could touch him emotionally many things didn’t, but Monique felt so precious to him that he never wanted to lose her. The lights were low and the CD player changed to Miles Davis’s Sketches of Spain. Monique lay back on the over sized pillows and pulled me on top of her. She started unbuttoning my pants as I unbuttoned her blouse. She wiggled out the blouse and exposed her small breast, I moved down her body, kissing her stomach and thighs. She removed my pants and I raised her skirt and pulled down her panties. I felt her body become rigid and arc beneath me and could feel her stomach muscles tense and ripple as I entered her. Her moans merged with the size of the waves on the beach as we collided with the rocky shore. I kissed her lips as I trusted deeper; Monique rolled me over on my back and straddle me making my erect penis go deeper. She moved steadily above me and kissed me hotly. My tongue found her erect nipples and I gently sucked them. The timing of our exhilaration and efforts increased and I encouraged her to join me in my release as I lifted and dropped her heavily upon me. I begged for her release and suddenly her ripping contortions directed my senses to the depths of her being. Feeling her heat I released into her and she cried out softly and held me tightly, we both moaned in total ecstasy as we climaxed together, then we were both still.
I kissed her lips as I withdrew and she rolled off and lay beside me. One of her legs flung sideways across my chest as we listened to the sounds of our breathing even out and the haunting melody of Miles. The scent of sex lingered, but the breeze through the window was chasing it from the room, the currents of cool air felt good as she rubbed my naked chest and stomach. Perspiration dropped from my body onto hers and I kissed it off as it disappeared along her neck and breast.

MONIQUE
John I like you a lot, but let’s take it slow Ok

RINGO
Ok, I said as I felt the rising again in my loins.

We made love again and when I awoke, she was gone.


The little man had watched Reverend Wilson interview and was incensed.

ESAU (SCREAMING AT THE TELEVION)
Who the hell he thinks he is calling me a monster and a coward, I’ll show them who’s a fuckin coward

INT:- First Church of Deliverance- 26 September 2008
Mariah Woodberry was quietly laying down in the pew on the far north side of First Church of Deliverance her head in her arms, she was tired and needed sleep but she was there waiting for Reverend Wilson, he had urged her to come so he could help her and her five children find a place to stay. Fortunately, he had arranged for the children to stay, at lease for the night, with a single female member of the church. She was glad that he told her to meet him after he finished his rounds in the senior building she didn‘t want anyone to see her. Esau Sneed had the cab driver drop him in front of the First Church of Deliverance. The church occupied the entire west side of the street, attached on the north was a day care center and to the south a three flat senior citizen building. A sign on the well manicured front lawn read, “OUR DOORS ARE ALWAYS OPEN” and a large parking took up the entire east side of the street. Esau entered and noticed three people, one man was dosing and another man was deep in meditation. Mariah watched as the little man entered and sat beside an old woman who was praying. There was utter silence in the large church and she saw the old woman close her bible and heard her say “Amen.”

OLD WOMAN
Welcome brother, can we pray together?

Mariah watched as the woman handed the man a gold trimmed bible and touching his hand.

ESAU
Yes, I would like that

Mariah sat in total silence and watched as they both lowered their heads as she read a scripture, in a few minutes she stopped and patted Esau hand again.

OLD WOMAN
Are you new to our church?

ESAU
Yes, I’m new to the city and I am looking for a good church

OLD WOMAN
Well, you’ve found one

ESAU
Who’s the pastor?

OLD WOMAN
A wonderful man, a true man of God, his name is Reverend Wilson


ESAU
Is he here now?

OLD WOMAN
No, he’s generally administering to the seniors until nine, and then he comes in for nightly prayer


Esau checked his watch, it was eight -forty five.

OLD WOMAN (GETTING UP)
I’ve got to go, hope I see you for Sunday Services

Deep dark shadows covered Mariah as she watched the praying man and the woman leave the church, the dozing man was snoring loudly. She watched Esau quietly got out his seat and walk over to the man who smelled of cheap wine and unwashed body. She didn’t see the man open his bloodshot eyes and give Esau a lopsided grin and closed his eyes again, but she did see Esau pop open a switchblade knife and slowly cut the man’s throat and returned to his seat. Mariah held back a scream and slouched further down in the pew as a patch of moonlight came through the tall stain-glass window. She wanted to run out, to get away but she didn’t move and tried to silence the beating in her chest. She heard the outer door of the church open and she turned to see Reverend Wilson enter, smiled at the little man and briefly looked at the dead man whom he thought was asleep as he walked to the pulpit. Mariah slid further down in the pew and watch the little man get up, paused, and looked to his right and left before walking to where the reverend was standing. Again silence and dark shadow covered her and she was a part of them, she felt a cool breeze and pulled her tattered coat tighter and listened.

REVEREND WILSON
Welcome, my son, are you ready to be saved?

She watched the little man smile, lower his head, nod and say “Yes I am, but could I use your facilities”
REVEREND WILSON
But, of course, my son follows me

She watched as Esau followed the reverend down a dimly lit, cavernous corridor, she wanted to warn the reverend and on her hands and knees she quietly crept out the safety of the pew and looked down the hall. When they reached the bathroom she watched in horror as Esau struck the reverend hard on the head knocking him to the floor, when the reverend opened his eyes, Esau struck him again. Esau straddled the unconscious man and stabbed him repeatedly carved a large X into his chest and smeared an X on the bathroom door. Mariah returned quickly to the pew and watched as the little man passed the dead man in the pew and carved an X into his chest and left the church. “Fuckin’ coward, huh,” she heard him say as he walked out into the night. Mariah waited and looked at the crucifix behind the pulpit, she felt a moment of shame and fear, the air seemed to shift but the silence was absolute. Mariah don’t know how long she waited but eventually she slowly rose from the pew and looked around the darken church. “Was he gone, where is the reverend?” she asked herself. Keeping low she crawled on her hands and knees down the dim hallway and suddenly bumped into the reverend the top half of his body in the bathroom the other half in the hallway. She covered her mouth and saw the surprised look on his face his no-seeing eyes looking up at the Cross. I was playing chess on the computer when Lieutenants O’Shea called, his voice trembled as he said, “That black minister has been killed in his church, can you believe that,” he shouted over the phone.

RINGO
Calm down Lieu, who are you talking about?

O’SHEA (SCREAMING)
That Reverend Wilson, get your ass down there, now, your partner is on the way

At eleven-thirty I arrived at the church, the police had blocked all traffic between 43rd and 44th South Prairie Avenue and blue mars lights on the police cars and red mars lights on the emergency vehicles cast an eerie glow on the street. I heard the wail of an emergency vehicle and the roar of police sirens filled the cool night air. As I walked to the church I noticed a large crowd had gathered outside and the news trucks were setting up. Irene Maudesa was being prepped by the makeup artist as she smoothed her dark blue pantsuit. Shortly, Evetta was on the scene with Doctor Dixon. A uniform sergeant and a young police officer were standing at the door.

RINGO
Hi Sarge, I’m Sergeant Ringo and this is my partner, Evetta from the Special Crimes Bureau and Doctor Dixon from the M.E. office, what we got?

SERGEANT (NODDING AT THE POLICE OFFICER)
Officer Brady?

BRADY
I Responded to a call of a man stabbed in the church, when I arrived I was met by an elder woman named Roberta Shacks who told me that when she went into the church at about ten fifteen to pray she saw a man sitting with his head down in the pew, at first she though he was praying and she sat in the pew opposite him but then she saw blood on the floor coming from his pew she went to see if he was alright, that when she saw he had been stabbed, she ran outside and call 911. I met Mrs. Shacks on the steps of the church, entered and she showed me the man in the pew, I immediately called for an ambulance, backup and the sergeant. Mrs. Shacks told me that Reverend Wilson often worked late in his office in the rear of the church and she accompanied me to the rear and that’s where I found the reverend in the bathroom. I secured the scene and waited for the sergeant, Mrs. Shacks also said that as she entered the church a woman ran passed her covered with blood and seemed hysterical. Mrs. Shacks said she felt sick and had to leave but I got her address and phone number

RINGO
Thanks officer, make sure you send me a copy of your case report

We ducked under the yellow police tape and entered the church and walked to the pew where a man was seated head down like he was praying. Crime scene technicians were taking pictures and dusting for prints, we walked down the hall to the washroom; Reverend Wilson was laying face down on the cold floor. The sergeant and the officer joined the other police officers trying to control the crowd in front of the church. Suddenly, Lieutenant O’Shea burst through the door accompanied by two of his lackeys.

O’SHEA
What the fuck we got, sergeant?

I told the lieutenant what I knew and he looked at the dead man in the pew.

O’SHEA
Shit, damn

EVETTA
Want to see the reverend?

O’SHEA
Hell no, he said turning on his heels and walking out

DIXON
Some leader

I watched as the lieutenant and his flunkies ducked under the tape and were immediately confronted by Irene.

IRENE
Lieutenant O‘Shea, what’s happened in there?

The lieutenant without breaking stride gave her an icy look and said, “No comment,” and ducked inside his car and drove off

EVETTA
It’s him!

RINGO
Yep, well let‘s go home and get a good nice rest, tomorrow is going to be a motherfucker

Evetta picked me up at seven thirty in the morning and as usual she had a cup of Dunkin’ Donuts coffee and a copy of the Chicago Sun-Times Newspaper was laying on the seat, in bold type the front page headlines read, “REVEREND CLARENCE WILSON MURDERED IN HIS CHURCH BY THE X-MAN.”

RINGO (SIPPINGED THE SCALING HOT COFFEE)
It’s going to be a long day

EVETTA (READING FROM THE POLICE REPORT)
Roberta Starks, female black born 1984, address 4125 South Wabash, third floor

RINGO
Let’s go talk to her

EVETTA
On the way

4125 South Wabash was an old building nestled between other old and abandon buildings. Evetta took the lead as I hobbled behind on my cane, when we reached the second floor I stopped and rubbed my leg.


EVETTA
You ok?

RINGO
Yeah, sometimes this leg hangs up, I’m ok

We finally reached the third floor and Evetta knocked on the door while I braced myself against the wall, on the second knock the door was partly opened secured by a safety chain.

EVETTA (SHOWING HER IDENTIFICATION)
Roberta Starks

STARKS
Yes

EVETTA
Mrs. Starks I’m Detective Lunden and this is my partner Sergeant Ringo, may we come in?

The door closed and in a moment it opened

STARKS
Please come in officers

Mrs. Starks reiterated what Officer Brady said but she also said, “I had been in the church earlier and met a nice very attractive young man who stated that he was new to the city and was looking for a good church, we talked and prayed together and I left, he said he wanted to wait and meet the minister

RINGO
What did he look like?


STARKS
He was a small man, maybe in his late twenties or earlier thirties, very attractive, black curly hair, a beautiful coffee colored complexion, sharp facial features and a high pitched voice

EVETTA
Do you think you would recognize him again?

STARKS
I’m sure I could

Evetta left her business card and we left for the office. When we arrived we were met by a cadre of reporters camped out in the small parking lot.
As we got out the vehicle reporters and camera men, assaulted us.

REPORTERS( SCREAMING)
Is it the work of the X-Man? “What is the department doing to catch this killer?

Evetta and I continued walking my only comment was, “No comment.”
When we entered the building we were met by the lieutenant.

O’SHEA(NERVOUS)
The Ist Deputy is in my office waiting on you two, what you got?

RINGO (Walking pass the lieutenant)
Nothing

The lieutenant didn’t say anything, just stood there his face a bleak red and his mouth opened. The Ist Deputy Superintendent really run the police department, he approves all promotions, transfers and the day to day operations. Ist Deputy Superintendent Dennis Gult was a thirty year veteran and had grown up in Chicago’s Ida B. Wells Projects. He had been a standout point guard at DuSable High School and Indiana University and played two years with the Chicago Bulls but suffered a career ending knee injury. When he was promoted to sergeant he was assigned to the Gang Unit and arrested many leading gang members. When promoted to lieutenant he was assigned to the Homicide Division for two years before being promoted to captain where he was the Commanding Officer of the Vice Control Division. When Horace Williamson, a black man was elected as mayor he appointed Gult to Ist Deputy. The Chief of Police, Robert Riordan was well connected to the old Irish regime and couldn’t be replaced by the mayor but the rumor was he was retiring at the end of the year and the odds on favorite was that Gult would be the next chief. Gult was impressive, his two hundred and ten pounds was spread over a six foot six frame and his jet black skins was accentuated by an all white full beard and mingled grey hair. Gult was seated in a chair in O’Shea office his assistant Captain Patricia Woods was seated next to him. When Evetta and I entered Gult rose and shook my hand vigorously.

GULT
Long time Sarge, how you been?

RINGO
Going along, sir, going along

O’Shea sat behind his desk, his face, if possible was redder.

CAPTAIN WOODS
What we got on the latest murder, lieutenant?

O’SHEA (SURPRISED)
Not much, better ask the sergeant, he’s in charge of the case
The captain gave the lieutenant a disgusted look and turned to me, “Sergeant?”

RINGO
Well the murder of the reverend and the other man is a departure from his MO, most of his victims were young black women but the X carved in the reverend chest and the blood smeared in the bathroom is definitely his MO, but this is the first time he has killed males something changed and I haven‘t figured it out yet, but maybe there was a witness. The woman who found the bodies and called the police said that when she entered the church another woman ran passed her covered with blood.

O’SHEA
Do you know who the woman was?

EVETTA
No, but we are working on finding her

O’SHEA
Get on it right away

EVETTA
Lieutenant, do you have that tape of the reverends press conference?

O’SHEA (CONFUSED)
I think so, why?

EVETTA
Can we see it?

O’SHEA
What the fuck, the tape of that bla… Reverend got to do with anything?

GULT
Put on the tape

The lieutenant fumbled around in his desk and put the tape into the recorder. When the tape got to where the reverend called the killer a coward and only attacked women.

EVETTA
Pause it, there the reason he killed the reverend, he pissed him off and the other poor bastard was just in the wrong place at the wrong time

O’SHEA
How do you know that?

WOODS
You got any other motives?

The lieutenant lowered his head and mumbled something.

GULT
What’s happening with the women victims?

RINGO
We found semen in a condom in one of the victim’s garage and we found semen stains at another crime scene but when we entered it into the DNA database, nothing, that leads me to believe our killer has never been arrested, hopefully when we get a suspect we can make a comparison and all of them were assaulted on the tenth of the month, haven’t figured that one out yet.

GULT
Keep working it, John and Captain Woods will be my liaison

RINGO
Will do sir

O’SHEA
Keep me in the loop too sergeant

I didn’t respond to the lieutenant as Evetta and I left and returned to my office. One of the secretaries gave me a registered letter.

SECRETARY
Came in the morning mail, there were no return receipt requested or return address and was posted this morning

I carefully opened the envelope and removed the letter, it read, “SERGEANT JOHN RINGO I SAW YOU ON THE NEWS THE OTHER DAY CONCERNING THE MURDER OF REVEREND WILSON AND THAT OTHER MAN. I WAS IN THE CHURCH WHEN IT HAPPENED AND I SAW THIS LITTLE MAN TALKING WITH A WOMAN IN A PEW, AFTER THE WOMAN LEFT I SAW THE MAN KILL THE MAN SLEEPING IN THE PEW. WHEN THE REVEREND CAME IN I HEARD THE MAN ASK TO USE THE WASHROOM AND HE FOLLOWED THE REVEREND DOWN THE HALL. I SAW THE MAN STRIKE THE REVEREND IN THE HEAD AND STAB HIM. A FEW MINUTES LATER I WATCHED AS THE MAN LEFT THE HALL, STOP AT THE MAN HE HAD KILLED AND CARVE AN X IN HIS CHEST. AFTER HE LEFT I CRAWLED DOWN THE HALL AND FOUND THE REVEREND. I FEEL LIKE SUCH A COWARD I KNOW I SHOULD HAVE WARNED THE REVEREND, BUT I WAS SO SCARED, PLEASE CATCH THIS MONSTER.

I called Evetta and Charley Turner into the office and showed them the letter, Charley said, “I’ll check for prints, hopefully we’ll get lucky.”

INT: AMOUD RESTAURANT- 10 October 2008

It was a Saturday night; Esau sat alone in a rear booth at Amoud Restaurant a dingy Arab Restaurant located at 43rd South Wabash Avenue. The diner was empty except for a young black woman, maybe twenty sipping a cup of tea as an elderly couple were leaving, and Esau noticed the young woman was crying. The little man glanced at her and she looked at him and he smiled. Esau pretended to sip his coffee but out the corner of his eye he watched her. She had long shapely legs for such a small body and an unusually pretty face. He saw her take a small napkin from her purse and wipe her eyes. He waited until she ordered another cup of tea and started searching for another napkin when he approached her table.

ESAU (HANDING HER A NAPKIN)
You ok, what’s the problem?

YOUNG WOMAN (DAPPING AT HER EYES WITH THE CRUMPLED TISSUE)
Just life problems

ESAU
Need a friend

YOUNG WOMAN
I sure do

ESAU ( HE SAID HOLDING OUT HIS HAND).
My name is Carl Ellison

YOUNG WOMAN (SHAKING ESAU’S HAND)
I’m Gloria Stevens, nice meeting you Carl

ESAU
What’s wrong?

GLORIA (TEARING UP)
I’ve just found out my asshole boyfriend of three years is seeing someone else and the bitch is pregnant and on top of that I just got laid off my job, and the rent is due next week, and I don’t have it.

ESAU
Your boyfriend must be crazy fuckin’ around on a good looking girl like you

GLORIA (WIPING HER EYES).
I went to church earlier and prayed for some help.


ESAU
Maybe your prayers have been answered

The woman looked at the little man who was shorter than she was but he wasn’t bad looking and seemed nice.

GLORIA
I hope so she said lowering her eyes

ESAU (SMILING)
I told you maybe your prayers were answered he said placing a hundred-dollar bill in her hand.

GLORIA (LOOKING AT THE MONEY)
I can’t take this

Gloria attempt to hand the money back to Esau and put on her coat and heads to the door, Esau follows and holds open the door.

ESAU
Can I walk you home, and it’s not safe for an attractive young lady to be out this time of night alone?

GLORIA (NODDING)
I live just down the street at 4410 South King

It had just started drizzling when they left the restaurant and walked hurriedly towards her apartment building, they walked east on 43rd Street, passed Michigan, Indiana and Prairie Avenue. As they walked under the CTA elevator station between Prairie and Calumet Avenue, in the recesses of the dark alley one of Bulls drug dealers Moe was at work. He had just completed making a sell of crack when he noticed the couple approaching the alley. Moe recognized Esau as the man he saw climb into the window on 45th Street. Moe walks out of the alley. The little man looked at Moe as Moe raised one finger; an invitation to buy some drugs the man shook his head as they passed. Moe watched as Esau and Gloria continued east and entered her apartment building but he was summoned back into the alley by another customer. Esau followed the young woman up the rickety stairs to the second floor, she stopped and inserted the key into apartment 2B; apartment 2A was to their right.

ESAU (POINTING TO APARTMENT 2A)
Are your neighbors nice?

GLORIA
That apartment been vacant for two months

ESAU (SMILING)
God sent me to you and all I want from you is to use your bathroom, I got a weak bladder and coffee goes right through me

The woman looked again at the little man and though about the money, she could pay her rent and have a little left. The man smiled and nodded as Gloria opened the door.

GLORIA
Sure, come on in the bathroom is down the hall. It’s not much, but its home care for some tea?

ESAU
Yes, thank you

Esau looked around the small two-room apartment, an old worn two-drawer dresser was next to a neatly made cot that was in one corner, a small television sat on two milk crates in another corner and a small card table chair sat in front of the television. Esau walked down the hall, past the bathroom and into the kitchen where Gloria woman was putting water in a teakettle. When she turned around the Esau struck her in the face with a stocking that contained rolls of pennies. The woman staggered back and fell on the sink; a look of utter terror and surprise was etched on her face, she tried to move but he struck her again and she fell unconscious on the floor. Esau pulled her limp body into the front room and began undressing her. Esau pulled down Gloria’s pink lace panties and closed his eyes as he sniffed them. He pulled two pairs of pantyhose from his pocket, tied one pair around her arms and another pair he stuffed in her mouth. The woman opened her terror filled eyes and looked up at him; he smiled as he raped her. After he had finished he removed the double condom and placed it in a small baggie. He then struck the terror stricken woman again with the weighted stocking, and dragged her into the bathroom and hoisted her into the tub. He spread her legs apart and propped her back against the edge of the tub and turned on the water carefully testing it so that it was lukewarm. The woman opened her glazed eyes; please she tried to say through the gag “Don’t kill me,” but the man smiled as he plunged the knife into her chest that gazed the left side of her heart, he pulled the knife free and plunged it into her chest again and again. He looked down at the dead woman and carved a deep X into her torso. He put his hands into her blood and drew a bloody X on the bathroom mirror. He then removed a jar from his pocket and put pieces of white skin under three of her fingernails. The man slowly backed out of the bathroom examining the area carefully as he removed the latex gloves. He looked for anything that could be used for evidence. He slowly backed into the living room searching the area. He spotted a small trace of blood on the floor where he had raped her. He took out an antiseptic soaked handkerchief and cleaned up the blood. He knew he couldn’t be too careful; a single drop of blood, a semen stain, a footprint or a fingerprint, a single strain of hair left could result in the coppers kicking in his door, and he knew that most criminals no matter how careful usually left something behind, but they were stupid and careless he was neither. He then slowly walked over to the dresser besides the cot and opened the two drawers, one had papers but the other had what he was seeking, he carefully removed the four pair of clean panties and held them to his nose for a moment. He removed a portable battery operated vacuum cleaner from his pocket and ran it over the floor and under the cot. He went through the apartment looking for anything that could indicate his presence, but found nothing, he was not worried about fingerprints or palm prints because he had worn latex gloves and besides he had never been arrested or fingerprinted. After taking a picture of the dead woman he slowly walked down the stairs, looked both ways and after seeing no one, slowly left the apartment.

INT: RIVER OAKS BALLY HEALTH CLUB POOL- 1 November 2008

I had just completed twenty laps in the pool and was in the locker room when my cell phone ranged, it was one of the secretary.

SECRETARY
Sergeant I, there’s been another one, at 4410 South King, I’ve also notified Evetta

Evetta and I arrived at 4410 South King Drive at the same time and made our way up the stairs to apartment 2B. There was a blur of activity in the room as forensic technicians, police officers and Area One Homicide Investigators attended to the business of preserving the crime scene and examining the apartment. Area One Homicide Detective Batoy gave me a copy of the preliminary report.

BATOY
Got a report from the tech he found skin under the victim’s fingernail belonged to a white man, think it’s a copycat?

RINGO
“Shit,” I said, “this city would go up in smoke if the blacks found that out.”

BATOY
Are you going to announce that?


RINGO
Hell no, not yet


Me and Evetta went into the small front room and I began reading the report as we walked into the bathroom were the victim was propped up in the bathtub her non-seeing eyes glaring at us.

EVETTA
Got word from Lieutenant numbnuts, Mr. Pepper was in the office for three hours looking at the mug book, no good but Mrs. Starks is suppose to come in later to view the mug book.

The latest murder in Chicago’s black community hit the national news that following morning and continued the entire day and was front-page news in the local papers and new shows. Over five hundred people organized by the community pastors staged a demonstration in front of police headquarters at 3500 South State Street. The growing crowd was growing edgy, taunts and accusations begin to ring out.

VOICE IN THE CROWD
The police don’t care about catching the killer because all the victims were blacks and in lived in all black communities

Another group of young blacks claimed the killing were part of a government conspiracy at genocide while some of the ministers spoke on loudspeakers claiming that white racists committed the killings. A surging crowd of reporters and news crews shoved their microphones at any police officer wearing a white shirt that indicated they were supervisors, but most of the citizens of Bronzeville were glued in front of their televisions as dour face newscasters flashed pictures of the victims across the screen and interviewed the mayor and the Chief of Police who stated that extra police officers were assigned to the community. The governor promised to assign State Police Officers to help in the investigation and request assistance from the FBI. What had been kept from the press were the thefts of each victim’s underwear. People started arming themselves, buying Pit Bulls and German Shepherds, making sure all the windows and doors were locked, installing burglar alarms and scrutinizing their neighbors.

INT: PERSHING MOTEL -420 East 39th Street - 11 October 2008
Esau Sneed awoke early he was feeling good as he turned on the television to NBC news and sat back on the bed a Irene Maudesa black female reporter was talking about the murder of Reverend Wilson and the murder of another black woman last night. He was amazed at how dumb and stupid the police was and he laughed aloud as he thought about the reverend, “Coward huh, I showed you who the coward was you black mutherfucker,” he said to the television.

IRENE MAUDESA
I’m reporting from the Special Crime Bureau and talking with Detective Sergeant, Doctor John Ringo the lead investigator on these murders, Doctor I anything new on the investigation?

Esau sat up and watches the television intently.

RINGO
I really can’t go into details, but we do have a witness and have some evidence.

Esau jumped out the bed and flopped down on a hard card table chair.

ESAU (SHOUTING AT THE TELEVISION)
What witness and what evidence?

RNGO (CONT)
The killer is very careful and he thinks he‘s clever, but like all criminals he made a mistake and will make another one


Esau started thinking about the recent murders, he relived everyone, and tried to think who could have seen him; he had been careful not to leave anything behind, he snorted a line of coke and hoped it would enhance his mind but it didn’t work. Who is the witness and what evidence? He repeated over and over and then did another line.


IRENE MAUDESA,
Thank you sergeant and good luck, Irene Maudesa, reporting for NBC news

As soon as the media had left, Lieutenant O’Shea burst into Ringo’s office.

LIEUTENANT O’SHEA (SCREAMING)
What fuckin’ witness and what fuckin’ evidence you didn‘t tell me anything about a witness or evidence?

I went to the refrigerator and removed a Coke.

LIEUTENANT O’SHEA (STILL SCREAMING)
Well, I’m waiting!

I sat the coke down on my desk and took a seat.

RINGO (SIPPING THE COKE)
Well, isn’t a lot to tell, I’m waiting to interview a possible witness

The lieutenant getting redder and angrier started to say something when over the loudspeakers, “Lieutenant O’Shea Captain Patricia Woods on line two.” Pointing his finger at me, the lieutenant said, “We’ll talk about this later,” as he stormed out the office.

EVETTA(SMILING)
You certainly know how to piss him off
A few minutes later Charley Turner entered and removed a report from his briefcase, “Good news Boss, we got a print and a match from the registered letter.

RINGO AND EVETTA
Great!

TURNER
The writer is a Mariah Woodberry, thirty-five, one arrest for panhandling and one for shoplifting baby clothes at Wal-mart but he bad news is she’s homeless

EVETTA
“Shit!

Evetta was at home preparing dinner for her family when her cell phone ranged. Her husband and two boys were playing a video football game on the machine.

BULL
Mama?

EVETTA
What’s up Bull?

BULL
Might have something for you, where and when can we meet?


Evetta though a minute and looked at her family in the living room. Jacobe, eight was sitting on the pillow next to Jamare, ten. Jashaun, three was sitting in his father’s lap. Jacobe was frantically working the controls on the video game and her husband La Shaun was rooting loudly as Jashaun yelled “Touchdown,” and high fived his father.


EVETTA
What about Sarge’s Joint in Roseland?

BULL
Cool, meet you in an hour

EVETTA (WALKINGED INTO THE LIVING ROOM)
Time out, Jashaun come into the kitchen a minute please

JASHAUN
Be right back, guys, what’s up?

EVETTA
Got to go to work baby, got a call from a snitch that might have some information on the X-Man

JASHAUN
It's late babe, can’t it wait until tomorrow

EVETTA
I’d better go; it might save a young woman’s life

JASHAUN
Is John going with you?

EVETTA
He’s my snitch he might not talk if John’s there, but I’ll call him for backup

Sarge’s Lounge was located on the far south side of the city n Roseland. It was a “Police bar,” with dark paneling and an equally dark ceiling. Leroy Ellison a retired police sergeant owned the bar and most of his customers were police officers. Evetta arrived at Sarge’s Lounge at 10 pm, two men were shooting pool and a couple was dancing to the music of the 4-Tops. Two men were sitting at the bar talking with the Leroy, she saw they were both armed and assumed they were police officers.
LEROY
Hey beautiful. Guys this is Detective Lunden, I broke her in, I mean on the job. These mopes are Elton McMann and William Jarvis; they work out of the fifth district. “What your poison?

The two police smiled and nodded,

EVETTA
Nothing right now, maybe later

LEROY
It’s on the house, how is that boss of yours?

EVETTA
John is doing fine, I’ll tell him you asked

LEROY
Tell him to not forget his old friends now that he big-time

EVETTA
Will do

Evetta spotted Bull sitting in a rear booth a can of Budweiser beer sat on the table. Evetta slipped into the opposite seat.

BULL
What’sup mama?

EVETTA
What you got?

BULL
I put the word out about the broad who got whacked on 43rd Street. Well one of my guys who work the alley told me that the broad always walk around her apartment nude or damn near nude. This dude, a little dude, my man doesn’t know his name was a regular customer and he and my guy would watch this broad parade her naked ass around. The customer was a weirdo and seemed to get off watching and he had a funny sounding voice. Well on the night the broad got whacked my guy said he saw this guy hanging around the gangway. My guy had to take care of some business and when he looked around the guy was gone. He later spotted him in the room with the broad. He couldn’t hear anything but the broad, naked seemed to be trying to get away from him. My guy got distracted again and when he looked in the window, he didn’t see the guy or the broad, also he said he saw the same guy walking with the broad got whacked on King Drive

EVETTA
Think your guy could point him out from photos?

BULL
Don’t know, I asked him that. You know with all the busts I’ve had with you guys I know the routine, but he said he only saw the guy at night in the dark alley

EVETTA
What about a description?

BULL
My guy said the dude was a little guy, but looked like a weight lifter or something and had a funny voice, that’s all he got

EVETTA
Thanks, man, owe you one


BULL
Owe me nothin’ mama

Ringo was waiting outside the lounge for Evetta who got into his car and told him of the conversation with Bull.

RINGO
Good work, Evetta, let’s get the team together in the morning and see what we’ve got

The following morning, Lieutenant O'Shea, Evetta, Charley Turner and Cristy Jones met in my office.

RINGO
Let’s see what we got, want to go first Charley?

CHARLEY
We know that Robin Honeywell was about two months pregnant and William Smith, her boyfriend was the father and has an alibi as well as her husband. There were no prints or any trace evidence, just a laceration on her head that Dixon said was caused by a blunt instrument, there were signs of sexual abuse and the murder weapon was probably one of her kitchen knives, no prints. We got a partial shoe print and found a condom with sperm in the garage, sent to the lab for DNA tests, nada. An analysis of the print indicated the wearer was a small man, found an X was drawn in the dust, and cast were made and logged into evidence. I interviewed the witness George Pepper, Louise next door neighbor who said he did get a good look at the man; he was short but well built. Mr. Pepper viewed photos, also nada. Re-interviewed of Louise revealed that she didn’t get a good look at the man either but believes he’s a member of the Hyde Park Bally Health Club. Cynthia White was an eighteen years freshman student at Chicago State University and she was also raped. There was blood and semen in her bedroom and semen was found during the autopsy, also according to the Doctor Dixon there was a small bit of dermal specimen under her fingernail that suggest a hyper pigmented dermis, in other words the killer was probably non-Caucasian, not Caucasian as originally thought, he’s waiting more results from the FBI Crime lab. Seems like she may have put up a fight, we’re waiting for a possible DNA match, she also was a member of the health club. Also at each crime scene the bloody X found on the mirror contained the victim’s blood type, we also still waiting on those DNA reports. All of the killings were occurred on the 10th of the month and as best as can be determined occurred between two and three in the morning and another odd thing it was always a rainy night. In all of the cases there are no apparent motives, most of the victims didn’t have money or jewelry the only things taken were their underwear.

RINGO
Cristy?

CRISTY
I interviewed Cynthia White parents who live in Warsaw, Indiana who stated that Cynthia moved to Chicago in June and as far as they knew didn’t know anyone. I re-interviewed the building manager and he said that she was quiet and as far as he knew she didn’t have a boyfriend. The old lady who lived next to Robin Honeywell said that Robin grew up in the neighborhood and was a nice girl but she often saw her parading around the apartment naked, sounds like an exhibitionist and I have set up an interview with neighbors and friends of the other victims, but you know these people don’t talk to cops. Interviewed Mrs. Starks and she looked at our mug books, but didn’t find anyone, all the DNA samples analyzed came back negative, no matches.

RINGO
Evetta
Had a conversation with an CI who said that one of his guys saw on two occasions a small man at the scene of two of the homicides. I’ll set up a meet later.

TURNER
Do we have one killer or two or do we have a copy cat?

RINGO
I don’t think so, If it is a copycat, how would he know about the missing underwear, that information hasn’t been released? The last killing was in October this is December, seems like he’s changing his pattern, the question is why he has stopped. I know it’s bad to say, but if he has stopped or moved to another state or country we might never catch him, anyway, thanks everyone. Charley try to put some heat on the state crime lab about the DNA, In the meantime Evetta and I are going to review the other victim’s files, maybe we missed something, and the question is, is there any connection between the victims outside the health club and how they are selected

Evetta pulled Peggy Smith case file from her briefcase. “Peggy Smith, twenty-five, the first victim of the X-Man. lived alone on the second floor at 4555 South Vincennes Avenue in a six-flat rehabbed building, found by building manager Mrs. Thomas and maintenance man, McRoy Gilberry on 10 January 2008, after tenants complained of a foul odor in the building, no witnesses, no one heard screams or saw anyone leave her apartment. Vic found in bathtub large X carved in her chest and another bloody X found on bathroom mirror. No signs of forced entry or missing property, except underwear, no trace evidence or prints.
It was a warm afternoon for the middle of December and the busy activity on 43rd Street could be heard a half block away. As usual I and Evetta did a walk-around of the building. The front of the building contained a sign cemented into ground that read “Vincennes Garden Court.”Beyond the sign were a cast iron fence, a locked key-card gate and a tenant’s directory, the building sat back in a well-kept yard that also contained potted plant, we walked to the rear and found another fenced and gated yard and the apartments had balconies, we returned to the front and ringed the manager’s bell.

MANAGER
Yes, can I help you?

EVETTA
Detective Lunden, Chicago Police Department, we would like to speak to you

MANAGER
Just a minute, please

In a moment the heavy gate buzzed and slowly opened and we walked to an apartment with a wooden plaque that read “Manager.” The door opened slightly and an elderly woman peeked out, Evetta and I showed the woman our identification and she opened the door. The manager, who identified herself as a Mrs. Ruby Darling looked to be in her sixties, wore too much face powder and wore her hair in a tight ball. She directed us to an oversized cloth couch and she sat in one of the two cloth chairs. On the crème colored wall was a picture of Luther King and on a large table were faded photos of an old woman sitting, a stern looking man standing and two young girls on each side of the woman, other family pictures doted the table.

EVETTA
We have just a few questions about Peggy Smith and we’ll let you go.


DARLING
I’ve already gave a statement to the police

EVETTA
We know, just back tracking to see if maybe you remember anything else, tell us about Peggy

DARLING
I just put on a pot for tea, care for some?

EVETTA
That’ll be fine, thanks

In a few minutes the lady returned with three cups and put the teapot on a tray. Mrs. Darling poured the tea and sat.

DARLING
Peggy was a good tenant paid her rent on time and never caused any problems or disturbance. Peggy usually left for work early in the morning and sometimes came in late. Whenever she had to work late she would call and she would look out for her

RINGO
What kind of person was Peggy?

DARLING
Plain girl, kind of shy she was the only child of a very sick father and she spent a lot of time with her mother


EVETTA.
Did she have a lot of guest? Boyfriend?

DARLING
I never saw her with anyone. She seemed like an introvert, had little to say, but was friendly, nice girl, but it seemed like the only thing she did was work, but she loved to read, especially books on Black History. I believed that she escaped into her books, where maybe she found some excitement for what looked to me like a pretty boring life for a young woman in Chicago, although a couple of times I saw her leave wearing gym clothes and carrying a large gym bag, I don’t know what was in it or where she was going

RINGO
Based on the information we have, her apartment door was not broken into, any idea how her killer got in?

DARLING
I don’t know, like I told the other officers all visitors must be buzzed in at the gate

RINGO
Have you rented the apartment yet?

DARLING (SIGHING)
No not yet, the police just removed the Seal a couple of weeks ago and I have to get the place painted and stuff before I rent it

EVETTA
Can we take a look?

DARLING
Sure, I’ll give you the key; I’m not ready to go back in there

The manager stopped me and Evetta at the door.


DARLING
I just remembered there was this good looking fella, a little guy but very muscular I saw them from my apartment window they both were carrying gym bags.

RINGO
Think you could identify him?

DARLING
I don’t think so, it was dark and I only got a glance of him

We thanked the manager for the tea and her time and headed for Peggy’s apartment. The door to the apartment still had the fingerprinting dust and contained two locks, which seemed undisturbed.

EVETTA
Think it was lover-boy?

RINGO
Could be, there’s no indications of a break-in, an unauthorized entry into the grounds or the building seem all but impossible, maybe our vic invited him up

The apartment was neat and orderly although sparsely furnished. The living room contained a battered couch, a chair and a color television. The bedroom contained only a queen-size bed, a small table and a two-dresser drawer and sliding patio doors that led to a small balcony. I slid open the patio doors and looked down at the first floor patio.

EVETTA
Think someone could climb up here from the ground?

RINGO
Sure if he was strong enough and not afraid of heights


15 December 2008

RINGO (TALKING ON CELL PHONE)
You busy,

MONIQUE (COYLY)
I’m always busy detective, why?

RINGO
Got time for lunch?

MONIQUE
Always got time for a free lunch with six feet two inch, hulk brother, where and what time?

RINGO
How about Glady’s on Indiana, twenty minutes?

MONIQUE
Give me a half hour, got to put on my goin’ out face

RINGO
See you then
Monique arrived in exactly a half hour and we stood very close as she squeezed pass me into the booth, her buttock rubbed against my penis and I felt a sudden surge of excitement and stepped back. The waitress brought silverware, napkins, water and menus.

WAITRESS
Be right back

I handed a menu to Monique and for a brief moment their hands met.

MONIQUE (MADE A SMACKING SOUND WITH HER LIPS)
Smother pork chops and sweet potatoes, sounds good to me

I stole a glance as she read the menu. She had a full mouth, not too big and not to small, I thought to myself.

RINGO
“Me too

The waitress returned and I gave her our orders.

MONIQUE
How’s the case coming?

RINGO
Nothing but dead-ends, no clues, no prints no nothing, why do you think he smears the blood of his victim on the mirror?

MONIQUE
Remember the FBI profile about his lack of a sexual identity and living in a fantasy world and perhaps had an unpleasant sexual experience when he was young, ever heard of erotic asphyxiation?
RINGO
I heard of it, that’s where people get off strangling each other during sex

MONIQUE
Close, it simply refers to intentionally cutting off oxygen to the brain for sexual arousal, it is also called asphyxiophilia or breath control play and is often incorporated into sex with a partner who are called gaspers. Maybe your killer is trying to establish a sexual identity, strangling someone can be sexually stimulation to someone with that type of mentality, and what is a better way than to get that sex stimulation than with a young attractive woman willing or unwilling and I think the X is something he identifies with from his past.

The pleasant waitress brought our food and we ate in silence.

EXT: Special Crimes Bureau -20 December 2008
Mariah Woodberry stood outside the Special Crimes Bureau it was a beautiful winter, sunny with just an early morning nip in the air. The air was fresh and clean and she breathed in deeply, she had been here before but never went in. She walked slowly up the front steps, big men rushed passed her, focusing on where they were going, no one paid her any attention. She was uncertain, scared, she didn’t want to be here but she owed Reverend Wilson, he was always kind to her and her children; giving her money to feed them, finding a place for them to stay, she owed him. In the weeks since his murder she tried to convince herself that she shouldn’t get involved, maybe the monster would come after her, after her children, but it didn’t work she knew what she must do, what she had to do, it was time to tell what she knew. She made her way to an unformed officer who sat behind a thick glass.

OFFICER
May I help you?
MARIAH
I would like to speak to Sergeant John Ringo

OFFICER
Can you tell me what it’s about?

MARIAH (LOWERING HER EYES)
I would rather talk to the sergeant

OFFICER
Just a moment I’ll see if he’s available, could I have your name please have your name?

MARIAH
Tell him my name is Mariah Woodberry

OFFICER
You can have a seat and I’ll call the sergeant

Mariah had barely sat before a man walking with a cane and a large woman came running down the stairs.“Mrs. Woodberry ? the woman asked in a quiet voice.

MARIAH
Yes

EVETTA
I’m Detective Lunden and this is Sergeant Ringo

RINGO
I am so glad to meet you

EVETTA
Come with us

I quickly gave her the cop’s once over, she looked homeless-torn jeans; two different colored sweaters covered a dingy white blouse, not dirty, just old and frayed. Her hair was cut short and covered by a black dew-rag. Her dark skin was ashy-as if she had washed her face, but no make-up. Even with the layers of clothes I could tell she was thin, no more than thirty and not doing well in life. She looked like she needed a good meal; I had a homeless woman for a witness? If her outside appearance gave any clues any clues at all it was that she had a hard life, what had happened to her, she didn’t appear to be on drugs, maybe alcohol or an abusive husband or boyfriend? As we walked through the first floor Mariah noticed men busy talking on the telephone or glaring at computers screens. There were computer on every desk, stacks of folders and all the garbage cans were full, there was the study hum of conversations but what amazed her was there was no yelling or loud talk, no chaos just men doing their job. They passed an interview room where a young Hispanic man was talking to men with guns strapped over their shoulders. The Hispanic man looked at her and winked, he must be desperate she thought as she put her head down and continued to Sergeant Ringo’s office.

EVETTA
Can I get you something to drink, coffee, tea or something cold?

MARIAH
Coffee will be fine thank you

I made a call to Monique and in a few minutes she entered holding a cup of coffee.

RINGO
“Mrs. Woodberry this is Monique Brown, she works with us

Monique handed the woman the coffee and took a seat in the rear of the office.

RINGO (CONT)
Did you send me the registered letter?

MARIAH (HOLDING HER HEAD DOWN)
Yes, I was so afraid, but I knew in my heart I had to talk to you to tell you what I saw, maybe it will help

RINGO
I can understand why, you witnessed a terrible act by a terrible man

EVETTA
I want you to take a deep breath, relax and when ready tell us what you know, okay, tell us what you saw at the church?

Mariah nodded, sipped the coffee, closed her eyes and laid her head on the back of the chair. Slowly she opened her eyes and stared down at the cup of coffee.

MARIAH
I’m alright now. I was sitting in the pew on the far side of the church waiting for the reverend he was always kind to me and my children, he gave me money for food and sometimes arranged for us to stay in one of the vacant rooms at the center, he told me to meet him after he finished his rounds at the senior center and he would see if he could find a permanent place for us to stay.
There were three people in the church, an older woman sitting alone, a man was slouched in a pew, he seemed to be asleep and another man praying. I noticed this little man come in and sat beside the older woman, they talked for awhile and they seemed to pray together, I heard her say Amen and she left, but the man continued to sit, soon after the man praying left and then I saw the man walk over to the man sleeping, pull out a knife and without a word cut his throat, and sat back down

EVETTA
Did you get a good look at him?

MARIAH
Not really, I was about five isles over and it was dark, but he was real short but muscular and he was wearing a short dark jacket. About twenty minutes later the reverend came in and walked to the pulpit, the little man followed him

RINGO
Did you hear anything they said?

MARIAH
In a high pitched voice I heard him ask the reverend if he could use the washroom.

She took another sip of coffee, trying to remain calm, her hands were shaking as she placed the cup on my desk, and she removed the dew rag and placed it in her lap.

EVETTA
You okay, want another cup of coffee or a glass of water?

MARIAH
No thank you

RINGO
Do you think he saw you

MARIAH (SHAKING HER HEAD)
No, he looked around but I was in the shadows lying down in the pew, I‘m sure he didn‘t see me
RING
Okay, when you ready, tell us what else happened

MARIAH (TEARS RUNNING DOWN HER CHEEKS)
As the reverend and the little walked down the hallway I slowly crawled behind them, believe me I wanted to warn the reverend but I was a coward, I was too afraid. I was terrified that if he saw me he would kill me

Evetta handed her a tissue and after a moment she took a deep breath.

MARIAH
As they walked down the hall I heard the reverend ask the man’s his name and he said in a high pitched voice, Esau Sneed, but they call me the X-Man the one you called a coward, well here’s to cowards,” he said and he hit the reverend with something, I don’t know what it was but it knocked the reverend down and then…..” the tears ran freely now “And then I saw him take out a knife it looked like the same one he used on the man in the pew and stabbed the reverend repeatedly and craved an X in his chest. I hurriedly crawled back to my hiding spot and he walked out the hall and carved an X in the chest of the other man, then he left, just as cool as you please, I waited for a long time before I crawled over to the reverend, blood was everywhere; I ran out the church and nearly knocked a woman down who was entering

SPECIAL CRIMES UNIT -21 December 2008
Detective First Grade Christine “Christy” Guerra was twenty-nine and had eight years on the department, five of them as a detective in the Vice Control Division-Prostitution Unit. Her father Ralph was a retired police captain and a good friend of Ist Deputy Superintendent Dennis Gult who had arranged for her to be transferred into the unit and assigned to Ringo’s team, two months ago. Christy as she was called was half black and half Mexican. She was five-feet-ten and had long black hair that she wore in a tight ball, dark brown eyes and a well-rounded figure. Evetta had taken her under her wings and told me that the girl was smart, sure of herself yet maintained her femininity, something sometimes unusual in the once all boys fraternity of a police department. Evetta and I were in my office when Christy entered.

RINGO
I got a call from Julie at the health club who said that a guy we asked about was a member and named Esau Sneed, based on what Mariah told us and we’ve found a common connection between at least three of the Vics, Louise Johnson, Cynthia White and Peggy Smith were all members, but we need more, we’ve got to catch him in the act. This lover-boy fits all the profiles from the FBI; this is what I want you to do. I want you to join the club and try to get lover boy’s attention. Be cordial at first and when he really starts to come on to you, brush him off, if the profilers are right this should really piss him off and let see what happens. I believe that he chose his victims at the club. Remember he’s a good-looking guy, he gives his intended victims the eye a few times from across the workout room and he keeps giving them the eye until they bites and becomes interested, then he make his move; it could a dinner date, a drink at the fitness center bar or maybe she even invites him over to her place or he finds were see lives and just show up, rings her bell, flash that brilliant smile and is invites him in. Each time could be a little bit different; maybe he kills her right away or rapes her first. See if you can challenge his ego, put his over inflated ego on the defensive, this is strictly a voluntary assignment, Christy and it could be dangerous, so if you have any qualms about it let us know, no hard feelings

CHRISTY
I worked as an uncover prostitute on the Westside, got stabbed once by a pissed-off john and a black eye from a over-heated trucker, lover boy will be a piece of cake, when do you want me to start?

RINGO
As soon as possible

CHRISTY
Got to go, got some shopping to do

EVETTA
Make sure you get receipts for everything you spend so the department can reimburse you

CHRISTY
“Yes ma’am”

EVETTA
I like that girl, she’s got balls

Evetta cell phone ranged and she removed it from her purse and answered. In a few minutes she hung up.

EVETTA
That was my snitch; he said he got some more information. I’m going to meet him at Sarge’s in twenty minutes


RINGO
I’ll be in the same place as before

It was two in the afternoon when Evetta got to Sarge’s. The bar was full of older men and women looking at a video movie, a short, wore out looking barmaid was behind the bar stirring a pot of Chili, Evetta ordered a glass of white wine and sat across from Bull in a back booth.

EVETTA
What you got Bull?

BULL
I recently heard about the babe getting whacked on 43rd Street and one of my associates who work that area said one night awhile back he saw this dude climbing like a monkey in the building where the shit happened. He said he watched the dude as he climbed up on the first floor rear balcony, tried the door and climb onto the second balcony and entered the apartment. He figured the guy was a burglar or somethin’ and went back to work

EVETTA
I've got to interview him and the other guy who saw something on 47th Street

BULL
Way ahead of you mama, I keep telling you I know all about this police shit. Come on we’re both in my ride, they’re too young to come in here

Evetta followed Bull to his 2008 Escalade Cadillac, she noticed Ringo get out his vehicle and she motioned him to get back in the car. The two young men were sitting in the back seat playing a video game on a wide screen monitor as Evetta and Bull got in.

BULL
Mama, this is Moe and Bo

Evetta looked at the two young boys, Moe looked maybe fifteen and Bo looked younger.

BULL
Bo you tell mama what you saw

BO
I was working in the alley at my spot when I saw this little ass dude walking in the alley. I was in the shadows so he didn’t see me, anyway he was dressed in all black, like that outfit my main Shaft was wearing before he flew through the window and killed all of them grease ball motherfuckers…

BULL (IMPATIENTLY)
Get to the fucking point

BO
Sorry boss, anyway this guy was dressed in all black and had a backpack on his back. He jumped and grabbed the bottom of the first floor patio and pulled himself up. Flipped over the rail and moved to the side of the patio window. He peeped into the apartment, but all the lights were out. I watched him as he tried the door, but it musta been locked. Next thing I know he climbing from the first floor balcony to the second floor balcony, just like them monkeys you see in the movies, reminded me of an old Tarzan movie, I saw where……


BULL
Goddamn it, get to the point, will you

BO
Oops, sorry boss., anyway I watched this guy as he got to the second floor balcony, tried the door and went in, I had some bizness to conduct so I forgot about him, figured he was a burglar or somein’. About an hour later I saw him climbing back down from the second floor to the first floor and then he jumped into the ally. The mutherfucka passed right by me, but didn’t see me and it looked like there was blood on his clothes. I watched him as he walked down the alley and turn right at 44th Street

EVETTA
Did you see his face?

BO
No, I think he had a mask or something over his face, but as he walked passed he said “shit,” in a fucked up accent

BULL (LOOKNGED AT MOE)
Moe?

MOE
Like I told you boss, me and this little guy done bizness before, he usually coped weed, but this night he wanted some white powder, bought one bill worth. He went deeper into the alley snorted and came back smoking a blunt. The broad was in full view now in the window, naked as a mutherfucka, you could see the hair around that snatch. Ole boy was feeling no pain and whipped it out and started jackin’ off. We both laughed and he said I’m going to get some of that pussy. I thought he was bullshitting until I saw him muscle his way through the gangway window and I saw him in the room with the broad, she was still naked, they went somewhere and I lost sight of them

EVETTA
Did you see him leave?

MOE
No, but about two hours later, he came back and copped some more weed

EVETTA
Did he have an accent or speak funny?

MOE
Yeah, he talked real funny; had a high pitch voice sometimes I would have to ask him what he said

EVETTA
Ever see him again?

MOE
Yeah, Saturday about two months ago I saw him and a broad walking down 43rd Street, all lovey-dovey and shit, I asked if he wanted to cop but he shook his head. I watched them leave the Arab joint, and then I got busy and didn’t see them anymore

EVETTA
What did the woman look like?

MOE
She was a young broad, maybe twenty-one or twenty-two, not bad looking, just looked poor

EVETTA
What did he look like

MOE
A little dude maybe five feet or so, but a strong lookin’ little fucker

EVETTA
Could you identify the guy?

MOE
Yeah, I believe so, I only saw him at night, but I’ll try

Evetta and Bull exited the vehicle and stood on the sidewalk.

BULL
Hope it can help you catch this cocksucker, he’s bringing to much heat to the hood and besides he killing all that young pussy

EVETTA (HUGGING BULL)
Thanks Bull, you might just have save some other young pussy

BULL (GETTING BACK INTO HIS VEHICLE)
Anything for you, mama

On their way back to the office Evetta told Ringo of the conversations she had with Bull’s drug dealers. I pulled up all the evidence reports from all the victims on the computer. There was a knock on my office door, “Come in,” I yelled. Detective First Grade Christine Guerra entered the office, her long black hair was down to her backside and she wore a skin-tight white Lycra body suit that accentuated her brownish skin and firm body. The suit was low-cut and provided an enticing view of her small breast.

RINGO
Wow

EVETTA
What happened to conservative dressing Detective First Grade Christine Guerra?


CHRISTY (SLOWLY TURNING AROUND)
Think this will get lover boy’s attention?

Detective First Grade Christine Guerra arrived at the Ball Health Club at 7:00 a.m. Monday morning and registered as Maria Cardosa, she was taken on a tour of the facilities by Juanita Ferrara a personal trainer. There were twenty people working out in the aerobatic class, another fifteen were doing water aerobics and maybe thirty people were sweating, fast walking and running on the elliptical machines, Christy paid the $50.00 fee and joined. For the next two weeks Christy went to the club but there was no sign of Esau, it was two days before Christmas and snow covered the bare trees. Christy had just competed ten laps in the pool and was getting out when she noticed a little man looking at her smiling, Christy wore a green thong bikini and her shoulder length black hair was in a ponytail. As she approached the towel rack, the man handed her one, she shyly wrapped the towel around her.

CHRISTY
Thanks

ESAU
You’re welcome, beautiful lady my name is Ronald

CHRISTY (WALKING OFF)
Christy

ESAU
Can I buy you a sport drink?

CHRISTY
Sure

They sat at the counter and Cristy ordered a banana, apple and peach drink and Esau ordered the same.

ESAU
How long have you been a member of the club

CHRISTY
Nearly a month now, you?

ESAU
Just over a year, I’m surprised that I haven’t seen anyone as beautiful as you here before, what time do you generally come?“No specific times, sometimes in the morning, sometimes in the evenings. I guess I will have to stay around here all day in that case just to see you

Christy finished half of her juice and got up.


CHRISTY
Thanks for the juice

Esau watched her as she walked away and Christy let her towel slip revealing the smooth curves of her butt, Esua felt the rising in his tight gym shorts. The following morning Christy met with Ringo and Evetta.

CHRISTY
I think I made contact with lover-boy, he calling himself Ronald, but I sure it’s him

EVETTA
Good, how did it go

CHRISTY
He’s a flirt that’s for sure, but not a bad looking little fuck

RINGO
What happened?

CHRISTY
Nothing much, he bought me a drink at the health bar, that’s all

EVETTA
Well, let’s see what happens, but be careful

Christy waited two days before returning to the Center and after swimming in the pool she looked in the weight room and saw Esau pressing a two hundred pound weight, when he saw Cristy he motioned for the handler to place the weights in the rack.

ESAU
Whatsup up Christy, you’re looking good enough to eat

CHRISTY
I’m cool Ronald, whatsup with you

ESAU
Just keeping in shape, I will have to be to keep up with your fine ass
Christy smiled.
ESAU (CONT)
I know a nice, quiet intimate restaurant a short distance from here, join me for lunch?


CHRISTY
Why not, meet you in the lobby in twenty

ESAU
Great,” Esau said as he watched her walk away. He immediately got a painful erection.

Esau and Christy had lunch at Dusty’s Restaurant and he drove her to her departmental rented apartment. The next morning she was in Ringo’s office.

EVETTA
How’s it going

CHRISTY
It’s going, we had lunch yesterday and he drove me home, he really thinks he’s ladies man, with his short ass

RINGO
You’ve got to play him, I don’t know what kind of move he’s going to make on you, but I know he‘s going to make a move. If he drove you home he thinks he knows where you live. That’s where he’s going to make his move

Christy apartment was in Hyde Park an affluent Chicago neighborhood a mile or two from the fitness center. Christy’s “House,” had been rented by the police department and was equipped with close-circuit cameras, concealed microphones and other high-tech surveillance equipment. Christy saw Esau a couple of times at the club but according to the plan she was very reserved and withdrawn. She refused invitation for drinks at the health bar or lunch and she knew that Esau was becoming frustrated and perhaps angry. Ringo arranged around the clock surveillance on Esua and he was observed him on numerous occasions standing outside of Christy apartment. Whenever Christy saw him at the club she noticed him watching her and trying to make conversation which she abruptly cut off. Each rejection by Cristy got Esau angrier and he finally cornered her in the weight room.

ESAU
Whatsup beautiful got time for a drink?

CHRISTY
No, I’m sorry, I’ve got to run

Esau had Cristy nearly pinned against the tread mill.

ESAU
Seems like you are always in a hurry, whatsup?
I had arranged for another young detective to meet Christy at the center, the detective was handsome entered the room.

YOUNG DETECTIVE
Hi babe ready to go?

Christy squeezed past Esau and walked over to the detective gave him a hug and a kiss.

CHRISTY
This is Mark my fiancé.

Esau stood in the room still smelling Christy perfume and how good she felt as she squeezed past and he knew he had to have her. For the next two weeks Esau watched Christy as she went home. He had watched the apartment and noticed there was a patio door on the rear porch and there were large trees in the small backyard. He made a note that her neighbors generally left for work at six in the morning and Christy usually left the apartment going to the club or to run errands around nine, that would give him plenty of time to fuck her brains out, what Esau didn’t know was that he was also being watched. A week after New Year’s Esau was ready, he had smoked some crack, downed a couple pills and had a terrific hard-on, and today was the day. He had watched Cristy house all night and watched the next door neighbors leave with two kids and her other neighbor left their house early that morning. Esau went to the alley behind Christy’s house, enter the backyard and crawled to the patio doors. He easily popped the lock on the doors and entered. A CNN news program was on the television and the volume was very loud, he also heard water running in the shower; “good he thought she’s getting clean for me,” he popped another pill and quietly made his way to the bathroom and saw a silhouette through the shower curtains. Esau half dazed from the drugs and lack of sleep snatched back the shower curtain and saw John Ringo’s Glock pointed at his head.

RINGO
Run asshole so I can pop a cap in your ass

Suddenly the room was filled with uniformed police.

INT: SPECIAL CRIMES INTERROGATION ROOM- 15 January 2009
I, Evetta and Monique observed Esau through the Plexiglas partitional as he sat seemingly unconcerned in the interrogation room. His feet were shackled and one hand was cuffed to a wall chain. He appeared to be looking directly at us and smirking, as we stood behind the one-way mirror.

RINGO
Why do you think he agreed to talk to us?

MONIQUE
Based on his psyche report he has a near genius IQ and he really believes that he’s smarter than anyone else, he needs to talk, to show you how much smarter than you he is. Surprisingly, some serial killers want people to know why they committed those horrendous crimes, they want to show how inadequate the police are, my advice, work with him, thanks him for his willingness to cooperate, but remember he is a psychopath and is highly intelligent and will probably try to play mind games with you.
He’s another Ted Bundy or that character in “Silence of the Lambs,” trusts your instincts, you’re the best homicide detective in this city, you’ll know what to do,” she said offering him a smile of confidence. The little man dark almost hypnotic eyes tracked me as I entered the interrogation room and sat facing him. He was dressed in an orange jumpsuit and wore paper sandals. His feet were shackled with leg irons and his hands were shackled to an iron wall ring. His public defender a young black man who looked right out of law school sat next to him. Esau was handsome; he had smooth skin, dark curly hair and a muscular body. I knew that an interrogation is like a game of chess and I had to have a plan and for every move he made and have a counter move. I also knew I had to establish an immediate rapport with this beast and had to convince him I was sincere. I turned on the tape recorder and dictated the specifics, date, time, place and persons present.

RINGO
You agreed to talk with me without a lawyer why?

ESAU
Why not, I haven’t done anything wrong

RINGO
I want you to know how much we- I- appreciate your agreeing to talk with us. Hopefully, we can help each other,” I said looking at the PD.

ESAU
I want to help if I can, I haven’t done anything wrong
Ringo slid him an official notification of rights form that he read, signed and slid to him.

RINGO,
You don’t consider breaking and entering and killing innocent young women wrong?

ESAU
Depends on your perspective, detective, but I didn’t kill anyone


I didn’t answer and continued looking at Esau, I hated this man and wished that he wasn’t handcuffed to the wall, I wanted him to try something, to try to escape, to give me a reason to kill him to save the state the expense of a trial.

RINGO
You don’t think killing an innocent man and a reverend wrong?

ESAU (YAWNING)
Don’t know what you talking about

RINGO
What about the other women you killed? The young girl and prostitute in Gary, don’t you think the families of these women need closure, six women have been killed and the MO is the same for all six?

ESAU
Well, looks like someone is reading the news reports and acting like a copycat

RINGO
Why, what was your motive?”
Esau’s thin, colorless lips formed a smile.

ESAU
I don’t have a motive, because I didn’t kill anyone, but I will tell you this, women, all women are evil, they all need to be released from their sins and I’m glad someone helped them

RINGO
Why are women evil?

ESAU
Women tempt men with their filthy bodies, walking around half nude all the time, I see it all the time, gyrating at the club with their asses hanging out, they are the personification of evil! I believe that women should be pure in heart and body, that they should use their bodies to bring forth life, not cloud the mind of men and young boys wriggling their naked, black asses all around, I’ve seen it, I’ve watched them.

RINGO
Watched them, where?

ESAU (SHOVED HIS HANDS BENEATH THE TABLE AND RUBBED HIS PENIS)
At the club of course and on the street! Everywhere, I’ve watched them; most of them are lonely, frustrated young women who need a good fucking. I watched them as they paraded around the club wearing those tight gym outfits, tempting the men then playing hard to get, they all wanted to be fucked


RINGO
How do you know they were lonely?

ESAU
They are always alone, and who would want to be bothered with their hot infected asses, could I have a cigarette detective, preferably a Kool?”

RINGO
I don’t smoke but I’ll see if I can get you one

I left the room and joined Evetta and Monique who were watching

EVETTA
He’s one sick sonofabitch, masturbating in front of everyone, I’ll see if anyone got a cigarette, a Kool cigarette

MONIQUE
He’s took out his anger on these women, I would suggest you try to get him to talk about his childhood, especially about his mother

EVETTA (HOLDING A PACKAGE OF SALEM)
Hope the motherfucker get lung cancer

Ringo returned to the interrogation room, gave a cigarette to Esau and lit it. Esua closed his eyes and took a deep pull on the cigarette while he shoved his hands into his crotch and squirmed. A moment later Esau opened his eyes, raised his free hand to his face and removed the cigarette and threw it on the floor but before he could stamping it out, I grabbed it.


ESAU
Thank you detective, for the smoke

RINGO
Tell me about your childhood, Esau you don’t mind me calling you Esau do you?

ESAU
Only if I can address you by your first name?

RINGO
It’s John

ESAU
Ok, John, what do you want to know about my childhood

RINGO
Brothers or sisters?

ESAU (SMILING)
Nope, my mom’s always told me that I was too perfect to have any siblings

RINGO
What about your father

ESAU
Never knew him

RINGO
Mother?

ESAU
A good woman, a saint


RINGO
I’d bet she was a looker, you are a very handsome man

ESAU (SMILING)
Thank you, my mama was a good looking woman, small but shapely, long black hair and dark skinned. Look like one of those African princesses you see in books

RINGO
Were you’ll close?

ESAU
Very close, she took me everywhere with her, to my violin lesson, to my math tutor

RINGO
You played the violin?

ESAU
Yeah, my teacher told my mom that I was a prodigy, I could hear a piece of violin music once and play it by ear

RINGO
What about the math tutoring?

ESAU (SMIRKING)
Again I was a prodigy, I have a photographic memory

I slowly open a manila folder.


RINGO (READING)
Mamie Sneed, ten arrests for prostitution, five for theft, numerous arrest for possession of heroin. , found dead and naked in the bathtub, needle sticking out her arm and a pair of pantyhose tied around her neck

The little man black eyes bored into me.

ESAU
She had a few problems

RINGO
Tell me about how you felt when as a little prodigy seeing your naked junkie ass, hoeing mother dead with a hype sticking out her arm

ESAU
Fuck you, you black muthafucker

RINGO
You’re so fuckin’ brilliant, a violin and math prodigy and you didn’t know it was wrong for your mother to be a whore and a junkie?

RINGO (THROWING PICTURES OF ESAU
MOTHER ON THE TABLE)
Look at your “sainted” whoring mama her hands crossed in an X across her chest, sitting upright in the bathtub. The picture was dated on the 10th of the month, most of your victims were killed on the tenth, motherfucker

The little man tried to get up but was restrained by the wall shackle, his eyes were on fire.


ESAU (YELLING)
Fuck you what you know?

Ringo got right in Esau’s face.

RINGO (SMILING)
I know I’ve got an eye witness that can put you at a rape scene, I know I got a witness of your murder of the reverend and the other man in the church, also have a condom with sperm and sperm from some of your victims, I got your fingerprint and a hair sample and I know I’ve got your DNA off the cigarette. You as not as smart as you think, you were careless, asshole, you figured that since you have never been arrested there would be no fingerprints or DNA on file, but I’ve got your little ass now.”

Esau struggled trying to get up, Ringo wished he could release him from the wall shackles, so he could end it right here. Ringo shook his head and walked out the room he called three other detectives and told them to book Esau for murder. Esau was fingerprinted, photographed and a swap taken from his mouth for DNA and taken to the lockup. Ringo watched and smiled as Esau still screaming and looking at the mirror was led away.

EVETTA
Crazy as a loon

RINGO
We’ll let him simmer for awhile hopefully I can a confession or something close anyway

An hour later I decided to have another shot at Esau and me and Evetta walked down the stairs to the lockup. The lockup only contained three cells and was primarily used to detain prisoners until transported to Central Lockup; we were surprised when we did not see the lockup keeper, Tony.

EVETTA (YELLING)
Tony, Tony

There was no answer we had our weapon out as we passed one of the cells, the prisoner was either asleep or faking, and twenty feet down the corridor was an empty cell. we continued walking to the last cell, which was locked and found Tony laying on the steel bed, eyes wide open and a large gash across his neck. Esau was gone.

EVETTA
What the fuck!

RINGO
Fuck!

EXT: POLICE PARKING LOT
Esau casually walked out the rear of the police station passed the gas pump where a civilian employee was gassing up a squad car. Two police officers were standing next to their vehicle talking. One looked at Esau and nodded, Esau smiled and nodded back as he entered Western Avenue and caught a southbound bus.

ESAU (WHISPERING)
Stupid motherfuckers

As the bus stopped at 43rd South Western Avenue Esau saw the men were still working at the construction site. He got off the bus and watched Ada from a distance she was so busy yelling at a worker she didn’t notice him as he leaned against a building. “Your time bitch motherfucker,” Esau said to himself looking at the clock on the American National Bank, it was 5:15 pm. “You’ve got fifteen minutes to live bitch,” Esau said in a low voice. At five twenty the workers started putting up their tools and headed to their cars. Ada was waiving her arms and yelling at a young black man who had his head down. A few minutes later the worker slumbered off and Ada headed for her car. The work site was empty all the cars were gone except Ada‘s, as she put the key in the car lock; Esau put the knife in her back.
ESAU
Get in the car bitch, and don’t look around

Ada did as told and Esau got in the back seat.

ESAU (CONT)
Drive, hoe and don’t look at me

Ada started the car and drove off the site.

ADA
Where to?

ESAU
Make a left at 44th Street and keep driving

When they reached 44th South Paulina Esau directed Ada to stop behind a vacant apartment building. Esau got out the rear seat and moved into the front seat.

ESAU
Remember me, bitch

ADA
Esua, what the fuck you think you’re do…..

Before she could finish, Esau struck her hard in the face and stabbed her in the side with the knife, Ada slumped against the driver’s door and Esau pulled her flat on the seat. Ada opened her glazed, terror filled eyes and tried to say something but Esau plunged the knife into her throat, pulled down her pants and raped her, he heard a slight gasped and said,” That’s for fuckin’ over black men.” After he finished he carved an X into her chest, pulled Ada’s dead body from the car and drove off. Two hours later her body was found and Ringo was notified. When Evetta and I arrived we interviewed Officer Pierce, the reporting officer, his sergeant introduced me to the officer.

SERGEANT
Officer Pierce this is Sergeant Ringo, tell him what you got

PIERCE
I was stopped by a Mr. Willie William who is a carpenter at the construction site on 43rd Western, he said that he was on his way to work and he generally takes a short cut through the alley on Paulina. As he passed an abandon building he saw a woman leg he stopped and saw it was his boss, Ada Shaw she had been stabbed numerous times and her dress was up and her panties pulled down to her ankles. He rushed to the site and called 911

Evetta and I went to the construction site and met with Willie Williams

RINGO
Do you know anyone who might have a bitch with Ada?

WLLIE
Everyone, she was a bitch, fucked with everybody

RINGO
Do you remember ever seeing a little, good looking guy hanging around the site?

Willie shook and scratched his head.

WILLIE
Yeah there was this little fucker who Ada was always fuckin’ with, his name was Eli, Eway………?

RINGO
Esau

WILLIE
Yeah, that’s it Esau Sneed, we use to call him the “little bitch.”

EVETTA
What happened to him?

WLLIE
Ada fired him

RINGO
Thanks, we’ll get back to you

The Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office is located on west Roosevelt Road. We stopped at the reception desk and in a few minutes were met by Doctor Dixon who led us down antiseptic, white tiled stairs to the basement morgue operating room. We entered through a closed steel door into the cold, dry air of the operating room. The icy chill and various chemical smells always made me feel nauseous and it was no different now. On the operating table was Ada, a sterile sheet covered her privates parts but the rest of her body was exposed. I moved closer to the table and looked at her, her soft ebony skin, her face so peaceful she was so out of place in these cold surroundings.

DIXON
Our examination of Ada revealed that she died of multiple stab wounds made with a surrogated knife, she had been raped and sodomized probably post mortem, traces of sperm.

The sight of Ada on the table dogged me all the way back to the Special Crime Bureau, I thought about all the other victims of this monster. Most people can accept death of a love one that is sick or even killed accidentally, but how do you accept a love ones death that is sudden, needless and brutal? We returned to the building and shuddered as I went up the stairs to Monique’s office. When I entered her office she got up from her desk and hugged me tightly, I smelled her perfume and felt her body next to mine. Finally we let each other go.

MONIQUE
Sit, detective

I did as requested and flopped down exhausted in an oversized, brown cloth chair.

MONIQUE (CONT)
Think it’s him?

RINGO (EYES CLOSED)
Seems like it; an X carved into her body

Later that evening, I returned to my office and retrieved the folder on Esau Sneed as the other detectives called it quits for the day. I couldn’t get the images of Ada Shaw lying on the stainless steel tables out of my mind. “Esau Sneed, born in Chicago, 1970, mother overdosed when he was three and three years later placed by DCFS with foster parents, Demetrius and Donna Whitley. In 1988, foster parents found stabbed to death in their Westside apartment and Donna was raped, Esau not found but considered a suspect. Interviews with teachers at Finger Elementary school revealed that he was teased and bullied by the other boys because he wore braids and barrettes in his long hair, teasing increased when discovered in gym class that he wore ladies panties, exceptional student and tested to have an IQ of 150, genius level. Suspected of killing six young women in Chicago and taking their panties and two in Gary, Indiana. He was arrested in September 14, 2009 but escaped from the lockup September 14, 2009 after killing a police officer. ” I pulled out the folder containing the FBI’s five page profile of the Esua Sneed and looked at the photo. He was a little man, handsome and listed at only five feet but had a well developed chest and muscular. I continued to read the FBI profile, “The X-man is a serial killer and without doubt is mentally ill, whether as a result of some event or trauma in his life or through chemical imbalances in his brains he cannot think and process emotions like the rest of us can in everyday situations. The X-man probably begun life in abusive or broken homes, with little or no parental influence and no positive social interaction with family members. This may have lead him to develop abnormal ideas of what is normal for people to do, He will one day take his behaviors to the next level, which in this case is killing people, probably women. He is probably socially backward, or the other extreme, seem socially normal, but secretly think that he is somehow above and beyond other people and smarter than other people. Your X-Man is a sociopath, people who cannot feel empathy, or feel sadness or guilt in a normal way like we can, which allows them to kill people with indifference and without suffering any negative emotions as a consequence. When a normal person kills another, they usually feel guilt and empathize with their victim, as well as knowing that they did something wrong. In short they can put themselves in the victim’s position in their mind, and can imagine the victim missing out on the rest of their life, and knows the full impact of what they have done. Sociopaths however don't see any of this, and because of he can’t he can kill indiscriminately at will without feeling any guilt about it at all, even if their victims were totally innocent of harming them. Serial Killers are the most difficult to understand or, rather, the reasoning behind their actions are difficult to comprehend. The drives behind these killings can vary from case to case. Fetishes and hatred of the opposite sex can be motivators in these killings. Two facts can be agreed upon by experts about serial killers. First, serial killers generally prey upon their preferred sex; for example, homosexual serial killers will seek out same sex victims, as in the case of Jeffrey Dahmer, bi-sexual killers- both sexes and heterosexual killers choose the opposite sex. Secondly, as a serial killer continues in his killing spree and he becomes more experienced, violence in the killings tend to escalate. There are no known cases of a serial killer starting out by dismembering his victims and, later, deciding that poison would be better. Some killers may simply have been born with this need to kill. Serial killers are, generally, difficult to catch and the reason may be this: there are two types of killers. The first type is those we see on the streets. The observer may know that this person is imbalanced and that their behaviors are unacceptable, but they do nothing. The second type is the person, who knows that their fetishes and behaviors are unacceptable. This person keeps his behaviors concealed and carries on a sort of "double life." This second type of madman is the more dangerous of the two. He is the next door neighbor, who you do business with or has contact with everyday, whom you would never expect to be a calculating killer. When he's caught, all who know him are shocked to the point of disbelief. Yet, he may even have been caught red-handed; Ted Bundy was a fine example of this very type. Serial killings have been recorded as early in history as the 1800's; they continue to this day. Unfortunately, there is no crystal ball in existence that can aid authorities in predicting who might become such a killer.” After another hour I decided I had it and was leaving the building when I saw Monique standing outside she raised her skirt a little and struck a pose.

MONIQUE
Going my way, big boy?

I smiled back and we left together.

RINGO
Hungry?

MONIQUE
I could eat

RINGO
Italian ok?

MONIQUE
Great

Vinzenato Italian Restaurant located at 24th South Western Avenue an area mainly Italian and Hispanic is a cozy family restaurant. Candlelit tables covered with colorful tablecloths are close together adding an air of intimacy. The owner Maria Torena Vinzenato an Italian immigrant opened the restaurant in the late 1990’s and works ten to fifteen hours a day cooking authentic Italian dishes and greeting her customers. The establishment itself is small and intimate with the soft romantic voice of Andre Bocelli floating throughout the room. There were maybe fifteen tables and the staff which were mainly her relatives, are friendly and helpful. We were seated and a large green salad and a basket of hot rolls were delivered by an attractive dark haired young woman that appeared just a little older than Deloris. I ordered Fried Bacala-Antipasto for appetizers, and a bottle of Chardonnay. We snacked on the salad and antipasto and l ordered veal Cutlet Milanese for Monique and Sea Bass in Foil with Potatoes for myself. After a leisurely two hour dinner where we rubbed legs under the table we left. I tried to entice Monique to my place for another drink, but she refused, she had a lot of cases the next day. I drove her to her vehicle parked in the police lot and drove home, the image of Ada constantly in my thoughts.

15 December 2009
When I entered the building one of the detectives mouthed, “Lieutenant Marvel, want to see you right away.”
Without knocking or waiting for an invitation I walked into Lieutenant David O’Shea’s office and sat on the arm rest of a chair across from his desk The lieutenant didn‘t acknowledge me as he continued writing on a yellow pad on his oversized wooden desk. By designed O’Shea had ordered a high chair that made him look down on anyone sitting, and I knew by sitting on the arm it pissed him off. He put his pen down and looked at me for a second.

O’SHEA
Please sit in the chair sergeant
I ignored the request and continued sitting, he shook his head and his ruddy red face got redder.

O’SHEA (CONT)
You and that partner of yours really fucked things up, letting that prisoner escape

RINGO
We didn’t let him escape, how I don’t know, but Tony Alfonso the lockup keeper was killed, did you read my report?


O’SHEA
Yeah I read it and it is completely unacceptable, you and your partner should have personally taken him to the lockup

RINGO
I don’t recall ever reading that in a General Order

O’SHEA (SLIDING A COMPLAINT REGISTER FORM TO ME)
Fuck General Orders, it’s your fault that a serial rapist and killer escaped and I will be investigation this complaint myself, and if founded I’m going to recommend separation for you and your partner

RINGO (WALKING OUT THE OFFICE)
Do your worst

I sat in the large comfortable chair in Ist Deputy Superintendent Dennis Gult outer office and browsed through the magazines on the table. I knew this was not going to be a pleasant meeting, Lieutenant O’Shea had already got a Complaint Registered Number on me and Evetta alleging that we were responsible for the escape of Esau Sneed and the murder of the lockup keeper, Tony Alfonso. I wasn’t worried about the complaint it was completely unfounded, but that was O’Shea’s way to deflect the heat on the Special Crimes Bureau and himself. After a half-hour wait Captain Patricia Woods came to the door and summoned me into the office.

GULT
Have a seat John; be with you in a minute

I sat next to the captain and a few minutes later Gult he put down a folder and turned to me

GULT(CONT)
What happen John?
RINGO
I interrogated Esau Sneed and told him of the evidence we had against him after he went off on me I had a couple of my detectives take him to the lockup to cool his heels. I planned on interrogating him and hopefully get a confession. When I went to get him that’s when I found the lockup keeper and Esau gone

GULT
How in the hell does that lieutenant deduct it was your fault?

RINGO
Me and the lieu have never gotten alone, why I don’t know, but like he always says, “Shit rolls down hill

GULT (SHAKING HIS HEAD)
Don’t worry about the CR number, I’ll take care of that. I’ve been notified that the US Marshals have a warrant out for Esau and are looking for him and they have assigned Marshal Marcus Cahill as a liaison with the department and I want you and Evetta to work with him. I’m assigning you and your people to my office and you will report directly to me through Captain Woods, she will give you anything you need. Any word on the DNA off the cigarette?

RINGO
It’s Esau Sneed


After escaping from the Special Crimes Bureau Esau Sneed spent the next three years traveling around the country. He got a job as a substitute teacher in Warsaw, Indiana, Fort Wayne Indiana and Louisville, Kentucky, but he soon got tired of those little hick towns and decided he go back to the Midwest. Esau Sneed felt good, he had fucked the shit out of that black bitch Ada, took her Cadillac Escapade and the bitch had over a thousand bucks in her purse. He remembered the old police officer who though he so fuckin’ smart and tried to put him in that dirty, smelly cell, but I got his ass, the dumb motherfucker forget the knife sitting on his desk that he was using to slice his lunchmeat, well no more lunch meat for him.“Well, where should I go, Chicago is a little too hot now, I sure would like to see the face on that mutherfucking, smart ass detective John Ringo with his smug ass,” Esau said aloud. Esau slightly opened the vehicle’s sun-roof and breathed in the warm late night air. He turned on the CD player and BB King Blues guitar filled the interior. He was driving west on Interstate 80 and passed the road sign that read, “Joliet 10 miles.” Esau talking aloud said “Joliet, never been there, might find some country pussy there.” In ten minutes he exited the Interstate and drove through the small city, stopped at a Mc Donald, went in an ordered a Big Mac, he sat at a table and looked around. The restaurant was filled with teen-agers white and black all giggling and acting like teen-agers. He noticed two young black girls in the group; one looked about fifteen and the other a little older. Esau watched and hoped that the two girls would leave their friends and he would follow them and maybe fuck them both, but after getting their food the group of teens, including the black girls piled into a beat-up Ford pickup and drove off.“Shit,” he whispered and walked up to an older black woman sitting at one of the tables and smiled.

ESAU
Hi, I'm new to the city and I’m trying to find a friend, where is the black folks in this town?

WOMAN
Most blacks live on the Southside, I would suggest you try Fairview Projects, someone might know him there

ESAU
How would I get there?

1 June 2012
Early the next morning Esau parked his vehicles three blocks from the Fairview Projects and walked. The Fairview was like the projects in Chicago or anywhere else in the country; worn-down buildings and worn-down people. Esau observed the children playing in the run down playground, a group of boys were playing basketball on a pot-holed basketball court that contained a net-less basketball rim, a group of young girls were jumping around a hopscotch board drawn in red crayon on the dirty concrete ground while others jumped rope. It was early June, but it was one of those rare warm and sunny days, not too hot, and the young children were taken advantage of it. He sat on an iron bench in front of a sixteen storied high rise building and looked up at the old women sitting on the balconies watching their grandchildren through the wire mess that encased the balcony. An older group of boys, wearing red and white Bulls caps were gathered together in front of another high rise waiting for darkness to resume their drug business. He noticed a young girl walk over to a bench and sit down; she had an arm full of books that she carefully spread out on the bench, Esau approached the girl and asked what she was reading.

YOUNG GIRL
I’m having a hard time with my algebra and I don’t understand the formulas

ESAU
Maybe I can help; I was always good at algebra

YOUNG GIRL (MOVING OVER)
My name is Deloris Whitfield, please sit down

ESAU
My name is Robert, let me see the book


Deloris handed him the book and in a few minutes he had solved the twenty questions she was assigned, Deloris was amazed.

DELORIS
How much would you charge to tutor me? I don’t have much money

ESAU
A smile

DELORIS (EXCITED)
When can we start, I’ve got to get a good grade, I‘m planning on going to college next year

ESAU
When do you want to start?

DELORIS
How about tomorrow afternoon, my grandmother goes to work at noon, so the apartment will be quiet

ESAU
I’ll meet you right here tomorrow at 1:00 pm


Deloris jumped off the bench grabbed her book and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Tomorrow my dear you will learn more than algebra,” Esau said to himself. During the three years since the X-Man escaped the Ist Deputy had quashed the complaint on Ringo and Evetta and Lieutenant O’Shea had been transferred to the Motor Maintenance Unit. There had been no more murders or rapes in the city that could be attributed to the Esau Sneed, but Ringo knew he was still out there, waiting. On Wednesday afternoon I was deeply involved in a chess game with Mike, the organizer of the Harvey, Illinois Library Chess Club. Mike was a club player and had a basic knowledge of the royal game, where I had a United States Chess Federation Master’s Rating.

MIKE
I finally got you Mr. Ringo

RINGO
Really, mate in three

MIKE (PUTTING ON IS GLASSES)
You’re crazy man I’m going to capture your bitch

Mike captured the queen but in three moves, he was mated.

MIKE
Shit, I thought I had you this time


My cell phone ranged.

EVETTA
I just talked with Cahill he said a report just came over VICAP, a young girl raped and murdered in Joliet, X carved in her chest

RINGO
Next time Mike, gotta go

A warm summer rain started to fall as I parked my Dodge Neon in the Police Headquarters at 35th South Wabash, Police Parking Lot. Evetta and Cahill were already in the office reading the teletype from the FBI. Cahill was very light skin, light brown hair cut short, over six feet and a solid two hundred pounds. He told us that he joined the US Marshals five years ago after he got discharged from the Marines and spent most of his time on the Marshal’s Apprehension Unit. Cahill pulled a folder out his brief case

CAHILL
This just came in, A young girl who lived in the Fairview Projects in Joliet was found murdered this morning, she had been raped and stabbed and a X was carved in her chest, sound familiar?

RINGO
Let’s go to Joliet
An hour later at one-thirty in the afternoon we pulled onto the fire-lanes at the Joliet Fairview Public Housing Projects in a predominately black section of the city that had 28 high-rise buildings with 16 stories each, with a total of over 4300 apartments mostly arranged in U-shaped clusters of three, and stretched for two mile, it was a large public housing project but was slowly being demolished. An angry crowd had gathered- a combination of drug dealers and gang bangers stood on the stoop and were held back by a cadre of uniformed Joliet Police officers in riot gear standing at the lobby door of the high rise building.

VOICE IN THE CROWD
All of you racist asshole cops need to get the fuck out our hood,” someone shouted.
“I live in that building, motherfucker.” a young woman screamed at the police blocking the door.

I showed my badge to a young, nervous looking white policeman his white face shield resting on top of his blue helmet. We entered the lobby of 124 South Jefferson and asked an officer what floor.

OFFICER
Apartment 10B and the elevator is out of order

We started up the urine soaked, dark and graffiti-marked stairwell passing other police officers. I was out of breath when we reached the tenth floor; more uniform officers were on the corridor and in front of apartment 10B. We entered the neatly furnished apartment and I saw an older woman sitting on a couch in the small front room, being comforted by a female officer, another police officer nodded towards the bathroom. In the bathroom a Crime Scene Investigator was examining the body while an evidence technician was snapping photos and another was writing notes. The victim was dark brown skinned and her hair was in corn curls, she looked to be in her late teens. She was naked and propped against the rim of the bathtub, a pair of pantyhose was tied tightly around her neck and duct tape covered her mouth. Carved between her budding breast and numerous stab wounds was a large X and a bloody X was scrawled on one wall. I looked at Evetta and we both knew that the X-Man had returned, I felt a knot in my stomach, a tremor of revulsion and recognition, I’ve seen this before. A Crime Scene Investigator pulled of his latex gloves and walked out the bathroom, Evetta and I followed.

EVETTA
What we got?

INVESTIGATOR
Black female, Deloris Whitfield, seventeen or eighteen, raped, stabbed and strangled have to wait until the ME get her on the table to find out cause of death, but looks like she been dead only hours, that‘s the grandmother Bertha Whitfield,” he said pointing to the front room.

As I headed into the front room to interview the grandmother

EVETTA
I’ll handle it

It never ceased to amaze me how my partner could sense my moods, she knew that somehow if the killer was the X-Man, I felt responsible for this young girl’s death, we had him, we had arrested him three years ago and somehow he had escaped after killing a police officer, I moved aside as she approached Bertha.

EVETTA
I’m Detective Evetta Lunden from Chicago, me and my partners Sergeant Ringo and US Marshall will be assisting the Joliet Police Department

Bertha’s eyes shifted to the bathroom as police officers were removing Deloris in a body bag, tears swelled in the grandmother’s eyes as the officers and her granddaughter left the apartment. Every police officer hate this moment when you have to intrude in a person’s most terrible moments, but it had to be done.

EVETTA
I hate to intrude at a time like this, but it’s important to gather as much information as possible, as quickly as possible, can I ask you a few questions, please?

BERTHA (WIPING HER EYES WITH A NAPKIN)
Yes

Bertha said that her granddaughter was an honor student and a senior at Joliet High School and she had raised her every since her mother and father was killed in a drive- by when she was two, Deloris had a scholarship to Indiana University and she wanted to be a social worker, she wanted to help the young girls living in the projects, she didn’t have a boyfriend or many girlfriends, she stayed mainly to herself studying and surfing the Internet.

EVETTA
Can you check her room and see if anything is missing?

We followed Bertha into Deloris bedroom, Bertha checked the closet and dresser drawers. She removed two one hundred dollar bills and showed them to Evetta and continued opening drawers. Bertha looked at Deloris neatly folded blouses and bras and opened the last drawer.

BERTHA
All of her panties and panty hose are gone

Evetta thanked Bertha and we left.


5 June 2012

The rape and murder of Deloris was on the national news and an when we returned to our office a crowd of reporters, black ministers and news crews stood in front of Police Headquarters confronting a Deputy Chief and demanding to know the latest on Deloris’s murder.

IRENE MUJHASI
Is this the X-Man, has he returned?
VOICE IN THE CROWD
What’s the department going to do to protect our black women

We pushed through the crowd without commenting and entered the building and went into Captain Woods office

WOODS
Bad?

RINGO
Yep, young high school girl, raped, stabbed and strangled, X carved into her body and smeared on a wall and panties missing.
WOODS
Sound like the X-Man?

RINGO
Why now, he’s been gone over a three years

WOODS
Who the fuck knows, maybe the urges got too strong for him to handle; he’s just a homicidal nut and by this evening every black leader in the city will be demanded to know what we’re going to do
I knew she was right, the city was already a racial cinder block and anything could ignite it.

WOODS
I got a call from Sergeant Hickman, Joliet Police Gang Unit, he’s got his guys out in Fairview talking to their informants, somebody has got to have seen something

RINGO
Believe me, Captain if, no, when we catch him this time he won’t get away again. I should have blown his fucking brains out when I had the chance

We returned to my office and Evetta poured coffee.

EVETTA
Think it’s him?

RINGO
It’s him!


8 June 2012
The little man sat on the bed in room 201 at the Joliet Motel naked except for Deloris’s pink lace panties. He swallowed a Valium and a Librium with a sip of Miller’s High Life beer and lay on the bed and began to masturbate, he thought of Deloris. He smiled as he remembered how he had fooled her into thinking he was going to help her with her algebra. How stupid she was, unable to figure out those elemental algebra questions. His mind drifted to how excited she was as she had let him into her apartment, all ready to be tutored; well he tutored her alright, with his dick. He remembered the shock on her face when he hit her knocking her out, duct taped her mouth and tied a pair of pantyhose around her neck. He remembered her tight and bloody pussy; it had been a long time since he had a virgin.
He remembered the wanton look in her eyes when she came to, she was really enjoying this lesson. The little man increased the rapidity of his masturbation and remembering how she looked when he let out a groan and ejaculated. He felt good; he popped an Ativan, downed it with a swig of beer, and fell asleep. The next morning Evetta, Cahill and I were at the Joliet Police Gang Unit drinking coffee with Sergeant Hickman. All night long I kept seeing the young girl with so much promise lying in the bathtub, violated and killed by a maniac.

SERGEANT HICKMAN
I remembered about two or three years ago getting a teletype of a serial killer in Chicago called the X-man, rape and killed young women and carved X’s into their bodies, think it’s the same asshole?

RINGO
Yep, we’re pretty sure it is

RINGO (SHAKING HIS HEAD)
One of my guys talked with an informant and was told that he saw a little dude talking with Deloris, the day before she was killed and he had never seen him before, no one paid any attention to him because he looked too small to be a cop. Matter-of-fact most of the homeboys were proud of Deloris and she recently been awarded a five thousand dollar college scholarship by the housing authority and the informant said that if he see the man again he‘ll let us know or they take care of him themselves

CAHILL
Any description


SERGEANT HICKMAN
Small man about five feet, one hundred fifty pounds, well built, long straight hair, sharp facial features, dark eyes and a coffee colored complexion

RINGO
Thanks Sarge

We returned to the projects, parked in the parking lot that had it share of broken down and semi--stripped vehicles and interviewed the residents in Deloris building and neighboring buildings, but the people living in this drug and gang infested area did not talk to the police, as we walked toward the building we were stopped by a police officer and handed us a copy of the Sun-Times Newspaper.

POLICE OFFICER
You guys seen this?

On the front page in bold headlines, “HAS THE SERIAL KILLER KNOWN AS THE X-MAN WHO ESCAPED FROM POLICE CUSTODY THREE YEARS AGO RETURNED?” The article was written by Irene Mujhasi, the black columnist who had been critical of the police investigation of the earlier X-Man killings, she accused the department and the city of not being concerned enough or exerting enough effort and resources in apprehending the X-Man since all of his victims were black and poor.I gave the paper back to the officer as we continued to apartment 10B and paid our respects to Bertha. There were three women in the kitchen, the smell of fried chicken, collard greens and cornbread filled the small apartment. Two older men sat in the front room with Bertha drinking beer, Bertha was sitting on the couch next to another older woman. I feel sorry for her, but she still maintained a certain dignity probably because in her life-time she had witnessed too many senseless deaths. Bertha introduced us to Deloris cousins and uncles and one of the ladies brought us a cup of coffee, Evetta again took the lead as we sat on the couch.

EVETTA
Just want to keep you up to date, we’ve got a good description of a suspect and our investigation revealed that no one had broken in to your apartment we think Deloris let the killer in. You told us that she didn‘t have many friends, why do you think she would let someone come in?

BERTHA
I don’t know, Deloris knew how dangerous this place is and after I would leave for work she would double lock the door

EVETTA
What time did you leave for work

BERTHA
I usually leave around noon

RINGO
What time did you get home?

BERTHA (CRYING)
Around eleven-thirty, that’s when I found Deloris

EVETTA
Again our deepest condolences’ and we will keep you informed

BERTHA
Thank you officers


MAN DRINKING BEER
When you catch the son-of-a bitch let me and Clyde have two minutes with him

RINGO
I might do that, after I’ve had my two minutes with him

20 June 2012- 5422 SOUTH WABASH
After leaving Joliet Esau Sneed returned to Chicago and drove to 54th South Wabash Avenue, a run-down warehouse section of the city. Esau parked Ada’s car and walked slowly along the dark street; this time of night, in this neighborhood the streets was deserted. He passed an alley where a group of homeless winos stood around a blazing fire in a garbage can drinking. Most of the warehouses were abandoned and shorted-out electrical signs advertising the businesses had long ago burned out, a three storied apartment building stood like a sentinel in the break neighborhood. He had been here before and knew that the second and third floor was empty and the resting place for the homeless people when the weather was cold and had no place else to go, he also knew that a prostitute, Debra Allen lived alone on the first floor and she used her apartment to entertain her customers. Debra wasn‘t especially attractive but had a nice body that she was more than willing to display in short, tight skirts and low-cut blouses. He knew her routine; she left home at 9:00 pm, walked two blocks to the CTA elevator station, had a drink at Pete’s Joint and then went to work, she never altered her routine. When and if she found a customer she would walk them back to her apartment, she must be good Esau thought because usually in an half hour she was back walking, but tonight he knew she would be busy a little longer. Pete’s Joint was a typical neighbor bar located on the ground floor of a three flat building, rat and roach infected apartments were on the second and third floor. Esau entered and smelled the familiar stench of dry rot and fermenting urine that was so common in these old Chicago neighborhoods bars in the black community. The exterior consisted of a Budweiser sign that blinked on and off over a wooden door. The outside wall was painted dull gray and surrounded a grimy, bullet proof Plexiglas window. The inside walls looked like it had never been painted and the worn hardwood floor was a dirty brown. The u-shaped oak bar had ten bar-seats and was pitted with the marks of forgotten cigarettes. A few small tables were haphazardly scattered around and behind the bar on a lopsided shelf stood a bottle of Gordon’s Gin, Dmitry Vodka and a bottle of unlabeled rum. A juke box sat against one wall and an old, patched up pool table sat in the middle of the room. A telephone booth sat against another wall with an “OUT OF ORDER,” sign posted on the door, Esau sat down and waited to be served. There were only three other customers; one had his head on the bar and was snoring and the other two sat at a booth in the back. The bartender whom name tag read “Oscar,” was sitting on a stool behind the bar drinking an orange colored drink and reading a racing form.

OSCAR (HEAD DOWN)
What do you want?

Esau ordered a beer and Oscar poured him a warm Miller’s Lite sat it down on the bar and continued reading. At nine-fifteen he glanced out the grimy window and was just able to make out Debra swaggering towards the bar; she walked in and sat on a barstool two stools from him. She ordered a gin and water and turned towards him. She slightly opened her legs and he could see her brown thighs and pantyhose, she smiled and he smiled back.

DEBRA (SMILING)
Want a good time?

ESAU
If it’s not too much

DEBRA (DOWNING HER DRINK)
It won’t be I promise

Esau put his warm beer on the bar and said, “Let’s go.” As they walked in silence, Debra thought to herself, “This trick isn’t bad-looking, short but well-built and strong looking, he might be a good fuck, she was tired of those limp-dick motherfuckas that she had to spend a lot of time sucking on their dicks to get it hard and when they finally did come, it was like a dripping water faucet, maybe this time she could get a nut, she needed one. They arrived at her building and she led him into the lobby. The terrible stench nearly overwhelmed him, he wanted to leave but he felt the stirring in his loins and he knew he needed a release. She grabbed his hand and led him into her apartment; a bare bed in the center of the room was covered with threadbare and soiled sheets which, lay across a ragged mattress. Brownish worn carpet was stained with spilled liquor and stomped out cigarette butts. He took in the stench of soiled clothes, unwashed bodies and dishes, he felt nauseas, but he held it back.

ESAU
I have to use the bathroom

DEBRA
First door to your right, sweetie


Debra began taking off her sweater and revealed drooping breasts, Esau smiled as he continued to the washroom. The toilet was unflushed and a blob of shit was in the bathtub. The throbbing between his legs got stronger; he had to release the fullness in his penis. He dry swallowed a Valium and a Librium and immediately felt better. When he returned to the front room Debra was removing her tattered skirt and stood, turned around and smiled. Esau saw the brown stains in the rear of her flimsy white panties, still smiling Debra pulled the front of the panties down exposing her hairless pubic area.

DEBRA (RUBBING ESAU’S PENIS)
I’m a naughty girl. See you ready for some action ten bucks is not too much for the fuck of your life is it?

Esau didn’t answer but sprung like a jungle cat striking Debra in the face with his fist, blood sprayed from her nose and mouth as she fell backward on the bed, her fingernails lashed out cutting his face.


ESAU
Dirty, fuckin’ whore

Debra face was contorted with fear and anger as she flung her thin arms in the air, Esau saw the tracks the needles had made and in the struggle Debra caught his ear between her nails and squeezed, Esau howled and with his right hand he grabbed her thin throat and began to choke her, she twisted loose and hit Esau upside the head with something, he felt dizzy and felt the blood dripping down his forehead, and his head hurt terribly. He got out his knife, but suddenly weak arms were around his waist.

MAN
What you doing mutherfucka

The man’s wine so breathe was suffocating. Esau released Debra and struck the man holding him, the man staggered, Esau looked around and saw two of the neighborhood bums. The other man was rail-thin and Esau knocked him down as he ran out the apartment. Once outside he saw a police car cruising, he walked slowly as the police vehicle passed. His head was throbbing and his face was bloody. He popped a Valium and wiped the blood from his face, “No pussy tonight,” he said to himself and laughed aloud as he drove away and headed towards Interstate 80 West.

CAHILL
Interviewed a couple of the workers at the construction site and was told that Ada drove a black Escalade, it still hasn’t been located

EVETTA
Ten to one Esau took it, I’ll check the DMV for a license and VIN number also just got a call from Sergeant Bill Turner, 2nd District Vice Officer and he told me that there was an attempt rape of a whore at 5422 Wabash, could not be connected at all to our guy, but what was interesting was the description; small man, very handsome, maybe we should interview her

RINGO
Sounds good, but let do it tomorrow, okay?

Evetta looked at Ringo and could sense he wasn’t feeling well. Evetta Lunden was assigned as Ringo’s Field Training Officer after he graduated from the Chicago Police Training Academy. She was a big woman; over six feet and Ringo estimated that she had to weight close to 200 solid pounds; she was twenty years older than him and getting close to the magical retirement age of fifty. Over the six months of his probationary period he was impressed with her street knowledge and take charge attitude and they became good friends. Her husband Clarence was a high school teacher and like Ringo a former Navy Seal. Evetta never wanted to be a sergeant or even a detective; she was content working as a patrol officer and she taught him how to be a street policeman and she was impressed with my quick mind, aggressiveness and willingness to learn. After his probationary period they were assigned to the vice squad which required long and irregular hours and the assignment began to put a strain his marriage. Being young his wife Elizabeth didn’t believe him when he would leave home in the middle of the night to catch a dope dealer or prostitute who usually worked at night, she accused him of having a girlfriend and became suspicious of Evetta, they divorced in 1999. Ringo enrolled in the Criminal Justice Program at Chicago State University but dropped out after September 11, 2001 and joined the United States Navy and eventually became a Navy Seal. In 2005 he was discharged from the Navy and returned to the Chicago Police Department, pursued his education and was awarded a PhD in 2007.

EVETTA (PUTTING HER ARM UNDER RINGO’S)
Okadoke, listen you go home and try to get some rest, I’ll pick you up in the morning

Evetta dropped Ringo at his building. Ringo was tired and his leg hurt, he maybe had an hour sleep since they found Deloris, but he had to keep going he had to catch this monster. Ringo took the elevator to his apartment and took off his shoes as pain shot from his leg to his brain. The Navy doctor who treated him told him that later on he would probably develop arthritis. He rubbed some of the ointment on the scar on his leg, laid across the large couch in the living room and closed his eyes as Piper snuggled up beside him. Images of all the killed and raped young women, Reverend Wilson, the man in the church and the police locker keeper flooded his thoughts. Ringo knew that his job was to arrest the X-Man and let a judge and jury decide his fate but he wanted the X-Man dead. He had seen too many cases where homicidal maniac with smart lawyers had gotten off and sentenced to a mental health facility, this was not going to happen with Esau Sneed. The following morning Evetta and Ringo met with Debra and her two saviors at a restaurant on East 55th Street. Evetta told them to order whatever they wanted the Chicago Police Department would pick up the bill. They ordered a big breakfast and they ate like they hadn’t had a good meal in days, Evetta and Ringo only had coffee. After finishing the meal and wiping her mouth with her sleeve Debra related the incident and how she had fought the man off, Claudius and Billy stated their part in the rescue and how strong the little man was.

BILLY
Yep he was a strong little fucker, damn near knocked me down

EVETTA (PLACING A PHOTO OF ESAU ON THE TABLE)
Is this him?

Debra, Claudius and Billy mouths were too full to talk but they nodded their heads. I called Cahill and he took them to headquarters for a formal statement. I returned to my office, lay on the too small couch and dozed off but was awaken by Captain Woods.


WOODS
Think we got another one, young girl in Ottawa found by her brother, Evetta and Cahill waiting in the parking lot

CAHILL
Vic is Rhonda Flemmings, white, sixteen, good student, found by brother Jean, seventeen when he came home from school at three thirty, address 321 Westmort Road,” Cahill read from a folder as Evetta activated the emergency equipment, I checked my watch it was five. We arrived at the scene in forty-five minutes

1 July 2012
Ottawa, Illinois is about ninety miles from Chicago and maybe forty from Joliet. It’s a small, clean little town with friendly people who main entertainment is fishing and boating in the Illinois River. 321 Westmort Road is a small middle-class, integrated public housing development that consisted of row houses, in a cul-de-sac that had three neat, well- maintained houses. Rhonda house sat on an acre lot with a manicured front and rear yard, a 14 foot fishing boat sat on a trailer in the driveway. We identified ourselves to the police officer behind the yellow tape and he called a man over.

POLICE OFFICER
Chief this is Sergeant John Ringo and Detective Lunden from the Chicago Police and US Marshal Cahill

CHIEF
Chief Walker Watson, Ottawa Police Department

RINGO
What happened here Chief


CHIEF (LOWERING HIS HEAD)
I interviewed the brother Jean, good kid, quarterback of the high school football team, anyway he said that Rhonda had a cold all week and stayed home from school. Mother Alice and father Robert dropped him off at school around nine, he said that he call his sister during lunch break and she said she was feeling better and asked him to bring home a can of soup. When he got home, she wasn’t in her room, he called out, but got no answer, he noticed the upstairs bathroom door was ajar and when he went he found her nude in the bathtub, she looked like she had been stabbed, a pair of her panty hose were around her neck and a large X was cut in her chest and smeared on the bathroom mirror. We received a teletype from Joliet advising us of the murder and rape, there, think it‘s the same guy

RINGO
I know it is

We arrived back in Chicago around six and met with Captain Woods.

RINGO
Seems like Esau has changed his MO, first white victim

CAHILL
First Joliet, now Ottawa all west on Interstate 80 heading towards Iowa, what the hell is he planning to rape and kill all the way to California?


WOODS
We received the info on Ada vehicle and I’ve put out an all points on it

CAHILL
I’ll contact the Marshal Service and have the FBI send out an alert

RINGO
Better make it all the way to California

23 June 2012
Esau drove west on I-80 drinking beer and popping pills. It was starting to get dark and he was hungry, he exited the interstate at Peru and parked in the Shake and Steak lot. He ordered a hamburger, small vanilla shake and a small chili and took a seat. The young fresh face waitress smiled as she worked the room wearing short red and white skirts and blouse. The waitress waiting on him was very attractive; blond hair pinned in a bun, big tits and a nice ass, her name tag read “Peg.” Peg was friendly and smiled as she served her customers, when she delivered his food he gave her a big smile, she returned the smile and placed the food on the table. Esau felt the rising, “Boy I sure would like some of that,” he thought to himself, “Maybe I should wait.” Esau ate the meal slowly and checked his watch, “Eleven-thirty, she probably get off at twelve,” he though. At eleven forty-five the waitress, came to his table.

PEG
I’m getting ready to get off; can I get you anything else?

Yes, you can serve me some hot pussy,” he thought, but he said, “No thanks Peg, keep the change” and handed her a twenty dollar bill. The waitress gave him a big smile and said, “Thank you.”Esau decided he would wait until she left, then he would get her. Peg came out from behind the counter smiled at him again and walked over to a big young man, they got into a new Ford pickup, kissed and drove off. “Shit,” Esau said as he left the restaurant. “Fuck, I’m too tired to fuck anyway, he said to himself as he pulled into the Motel 8 parking lot.

Two weeks later, fearing that Esau Sneed was on a country wide crime wave, the FBI and Homeland Security formed a task force. The task force was housed in an abandon warehouse at 615 West 51st Street and consisted of FBI agents, State Police Detectives and members of my team. Homeland Security with its unlimited budget had provided flat screen monitors, a state- of- the-art communication center and new high tech computers. The Supervising Agent in charge or SAC, Timothy Roth was a typical agent, over six feet, well toned body, short graying hair and rim-rod straight. His apparel was also typical FBI; wing tip shoes, white shirt, dark blue suit and dark tie.
Roth was seated at the head and in a booming voice he said, “We received a teletype from our Iowa office that stated that we believe that Esau Sneed, aka, the X-Man raped and killed three young women, one in Peru, Illinois names Peggy Allison, she worked at the Steak and Shake in Peru, she was fifteen and white, one in Des Moines, Iowa, seventeen and black and the latest in Omaha Nebraska, seventeen, black.
All of the victims were brutally beaten, raped and stabbed and all had the trademark X carved into their chest. We don’t know where he’s headed, but it appears that he’s traveling West on Interstate 80. Hopefully, a state trooper will spot the vehicle and arrest him, but until that happens I’ve notified all of our offices to be on the look-out, we‘ll use this office as our command operations station.”
I felt the beating in my chest, bile surged and rumbled in my stomach like a big bowling ball heading for the gutter, my skin felt cold and I shivered, I wanted to go after this monster that had killed three more young innocent women. Me and other members of the task force sat around the office all day, monitoring the FBI VICAP SYSTEM, talking to police departments throughout southwest Illinois until five pm, but nothing happened no word from the state police or police departments and for the time being no more murders.
At six pm Roth came into the room and in a loud voice, said, “I have set up a management group; one group, the intelligence group will collect, process, analyze leads we receive. John Ringo, Evetta Luden and the Special Case members will lead the investigative group and respond to any crime scenes involving the X-Man but enough for today, go home and get some rest, see you in the morning.”
We all gathered up our papers and belonging and headed for the door. When we reached the lobby Cahill said, “Let’s go for a drink, there’s a nice little bar just down the street,”
Evetta and I agreed and he led us to the Federal Inn. The Federal Inn was one of those downtown bars that catered to young, baby blooming semi-professional, lawyers, CEO’s and attractive people who wanted to be seen or to net-work. The thirty foot bar was made of solid oak surrounded by high back cushioned bar seats. A large mirror was positioned behind the bar so the customers could check themselves out, a forty-five inch flat screen televisions was mounted from the ceiling. The men wore black power suits and ordered expensive cognacs, the woman wore dark business suits or stylist dresses and sipped white wine, everyone seemed to be carrying Torino Briefcases that probably cost a weeks’ salary.
We sat and in a few minutes Avery Johnson and Adrea Printiss, other members of the task force joined us. The Inn’s piano player started playing one of those bar song that seemed to have no end or beginning and no one seemed to be listening too. After a few drinks, Adrea said to Cahill, “You can play better than that, ask him to let you sit in.”
Cahill blushed and shook his head, without saying another word Adrea got up and walked over to the piano, she said a few words to the piano player him and waived Cahill over, reluctantly he went to the piano. The bar crowd was feeling pretty good and was talking loud. Cahill sat down and started playing, his first number was Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It on,” he followed it with Ray Charles, “Georgia On My Mind,” The crowd got quiet and listened as he played more Motown Hits, when he got up he got a round of applause and someone sent a round of drinks to our table.
“That was great, you should have been a piano player instead of a fed,” I said.
“My mother and father were musicians, I started playing the piano when I was five and graduated from Julliard, in college I played with the college jazz band and we did sets at some of the clubs, but it wasn’t enough action for me, I think that’s why I joined the Marines and the Marshal Service.”
I arrived at home about ten and flopped into my bed and for the first time in a long time I felt relaxed and finally got a good night sleep, maybe it was the drinks or just getting away from the case.

6 July 2012
It had been a couple of weeks since Esau’s last rape and murder in Ottawa and he was getting restless, plus his money was running out, he needed gas and more important he needed his drugs. Most of the small towns he passed through the drug of choice were methamphetamine, not crack and definitely not the prescription drugs. He didn’t care for the side effects of methamphetamine; dizziness, blurred vision and always made him feel tired, he liked the rush he got from crack and the pills, he turned around on I-80 and headed east. The following morning I awoke with a slight headache. It had been a long since I had that much to drink and I was paying for it. I downed a couple of aspirins and two cups of strong coffee and headed for the office. The task force was assembled and Evetta handed me cup of espresso.

EVETTA
Good for the morning after

She was right the bitter, strong coffee chased away the groggy feeling and I felt better as I joined the group. SAC Roth came into the room and read from a teletype, “Just got a teletype from the Kankakee Police Department, mom and pop gas station held up by a little man with a knife, couple tied up and the older woman fondled, but no one hurt, offender filled up his car with gas, took three hundred dollars from register and was driving a black Cadillac Escapade, we only got three numbers of the plates but it matched our guy.

RINGO
I think he’s on his way back to Chicago!

It was after ten when Esau pulled into what was left of the Robert Taylor Housing Projects. Most of the high rises had been demolished and the few remaining was controlled by the Bulls gang, 43rd Street Hustlers he looked around at the hooded figures standing in the shadows but he didn‘t know any of them and he knew they wouldn‘t sell him anything. He drove to 43rd street, parked and entered the dark alley under the CTA elevator and saw Moe a dealer he had done business with before. Moe came out the shadows and approached.

MOE
My man, where you been, long time?

ESAU
Traveling, you holding?

MOE
What you need?

ESAU
Three rocks got any scrips?

MOE
Just some Ativan

ESAU
Okay, give me a dozen

Moe disappeared and in a moment returned with the drugs. Esau gave Moe five twenty dollars bills and left the alley. The following morning Evetta got a call from William “Bull” Jones.

BULL
Mama, I think your little guy is back, just made a buy with one of my guys on 43rd Street

EVETTA
What did he cop?

BULL
Three rocks and some Ativan

EVETTA
How long you take that will last him?

BULL
Two, three days at the most

EVETTA
Thanks, I owe you

BULL
Like I told you before, you owe me zip

Evetta called me and we went outside the building.

EVETTA
Just got a call from Bull, you was right he is back, just copped some drugs from Bull‘s guy

RINGO (EXCITED)
Where?

EVETTA
43rd Street

RINGO
Let’s keep this to ourselves, Okay?

Evetta looked at me and knew that I wanted him and knew what I planned to do.

EVETTA
You got it John

For the next two nights Evetta and I observed the alley at 43rd South Prairie Avenue, nothing, but on the third night a Black Cadillac Escalade slowly cruised down the deserted Street, it parked at 43rd South Calumet and a little man got out, looked around and slowly walked to the alley.
I told Evetta to go into the alley from 44th Street.

EVETTA
You know what you’re doing John?

RINGO
I’m sure, and I don’t want you involved

Evetta didn’t argue as she got out and beginning walking down Prairie Avenue, she turned looked at me and mouthed, “Be careful.”
I nodded as Esau entered the alley, waited a minute and followed; Esau was talking to a hooded figure in the alley when I approached.

RINGO
Remember me?

ESAU (SQUINTING HIS EYES)
Who you?

RINGO
Your worst nightmare

I saw Evetta as she entered the alley, weapon in her hand.

RINGO (LOOKING AT THE HOODED FIGURE
Split

HOODED FIGURE
I’m gone

ESAU
Who the fuck is you?

RINGO
You don’t remember me, huh. Do you remember the old lockup keeper you killed, do you remember all the young women you violated and killed, do you remember Reverend Wilson?

ESAU
You!

RINGO
Yep and this is the end of the line for your little ass

ESAU
OK arrest me, cop muthafuckas

Esau lunged at me, I side stepped him and delivered a hard right into his stomach, he howled in pain and doubled over, when he came up he popped open a switch-blade and smiled.

ESAU
I‘m going to carve your black ass up like I did those bitches and that fuckin’ preacher

He lunged again swinging the knife, he was quick as a cat and cut me on the sleeve, but as a former Navy Seal I was well trained in hand-to hand combat, I sidestepped again and stood facing him. He had a sardonic smile on his face as we circled each other.

EVETTA (SCREAMING)
Shoot the motherfucker

I didn‘t want to shoot him, that would be too quick, too easy, I wanted him to suffer, to feel pain. I saw the red light from Evetta Gluck centered on his chest

RINGO
No I yelled at her

Esau made another lunge with the knife I grabbed his arm twisted it and heard it snap as he dropped the knife and yell as the pain penetrated his drug induced brain. I flip him around and in a choke hold slowly squeezed, he twisted and tried to get free, but I had him. I continued squeezing and whispered in his ear.

RINGO
This is how they felt as you slowly choked the life out of them.

Esau continued struggling for a while and then became still. I applied more pressure and heard his neck snap. I let him go and he fell lifeless on the dirty ground

EVETTA
You ok?

RINGO
Yep, just a scratch

EVETTA
What we’re going to do with him?

I looked at the monster, his beautiful face had an angelic glow and his eyes were open. I grabbed his legs and pulled him behind some overflowing garbage cans.

RINGO
Let the rats have him

Two days later, garbage men found the body, partly eaten by the street animals. Later that day I purchased a Sun-Times Newspaper and in the bold black headlines on the front page read: “MAN FOUND IN ALLEY ON SOUTH 43RD STREET, PRELIMINARY REPORTS INDICATE MAN MAYBE ESAU SNEED KNOW AS THE X-MAN.”

The following morning Evetta and I met in Deputy Gult office with Captain Woods.

WOODS
What do you think happened in that alley?

RINGO (SHAKING HIS HEAD)
Probably a drug deal that went bad

The captain looked at me.

WOODS
Yeah, probably, by the way Deputy Gult is expected to be named Chief of Police later today and the deputy told me to tell you, you are the acting CO of the Bureau, congratulations

Evetta and I left the building.

RINGO
This calls for a celebration, where you want to go?

She put her arm undermines and said, “You’re coming to my house to see your godsons and my husband, I will fix you a home cook meal, you pop for the wine. “Deal,” I said.


END


X-MAN SCREENPLAY


Brian R. Lundin


2
EXT. STREET ON CHICAGO’S SOUHSIDE

The dark sky was highlighted by a full moon as a heavy snow mixed with rain silently covered the streets. Wearing a black hoodie and black sweats Esau Sneed slowly walked on the sidewalk, stepped over a pile of dogshit and stood behind a large tree on the dark and deserted street. He looked up at the second floor apartment of the old, rundown apartment building at 4555 South King Drive; he checked his watch, 10:00 pm. He watched the young woman silhouetted behind the thin curtain by a bright light. She wore only a bra and panties as she walked around her apartment holding the telephone between her shoulder and her chin while combing her hair.

INT. SECOND FLOOR APARTMENT

The young women suddenly wakes-up, rubs her eyes and looks around the apartment as she slowly gets out her bed, puts on a nightgown and tiptoes to the window and shiver. The strong wind blowing off Lake Michigan slammed the rain and snow against the window and she jumps back. Shaken she quietly walks into the cluttered front room and noticed the front door night chain dangling. She secured the chain to the lock and looked around before heading into the small kitchen, got a bottle of water out the refrigerator and sipped it as she walked into the bathroom. Suddenly a strong hand was around her neck, she couldn’t breathe, she tried to scream but no sound came out. She struggled trying to free herself but the hands tighten around her neck, she felt herself being dragged into the bedroom, and then there was darkness.

INT. SECOND FLOOR APARTMENT-BEDROOM

YOUNG WOMAN POV-
A splash of cold water against her face awakens her. As she regained consciousness she recognizes the scent of Irish Springs the bed perfume she uses and realized she was in her bed. He eyes focus on her body, her gown had been removed and she laid spread eagle, her feet, arms and mouth was bound by duct tape. She began trembling as tears flowed down her cheeks. She hoped she was dreaming, a nightmare from which she would soon awake but then she saw a naked blurred figure slowly moving across the darken room and she smelled a musty odor. She felt his presence as he got closer to the bed and stood over her. She heard his heavy breathing as he slowly checked the heavy gray tape.

ESAU (SMILING)
You want me don’t you? I have seen you watching me at the heath club and I saw the lust in your eyes.

YOUNG WOMAN POV-
STRUGGLING ON THE BED, CRYNG.

ESAU POV-
He looked at her brown thighs and shaven pubic area. He noticed how her frighten eyes attempted to see him but he knew it was too dark.

YOUNG WOMAN POV-
She watched in horror as he rubbed her thighs and breasts and inserted in finger into her and gently moved it around. She felt her moisture and felt his nude body on top of hers.


ESAU (SMILING)
You ready for me Peggy?

YOUNG WOMAN POV-
Tears flowed down her cheeks as she violently shook her head and her mouth became dry. She felt his hands raising her buttocks, she tried to turn her body but couldn’t.


ESAU (WHISPERING INTO HER EAR)
Now I will give you what you want,” he said as he passionately entered her, raising her buttock higher as he plunged deep inside her.

YOUNG WOMAN POV-
She felt the hardness and size of his penis as he plunged deeper and harder into her. Finally, he heard him groans as his body shook violently and she felt his fluids going into her. Tears flowed as she clenched her teeth and closed her eyes. When he was finished she felt his clammy hands moving over her shaking body, his finger searching for her clitoris as he put his lips on the tape covering her mouth. Suddenly, she was hit hard upside her head and she felt herself losing consciousness, her senses became blurred and her head hurt. Maybe someone saw him as he broke into her apartment, maybe the police are on the way, her silent prayer asked.

ESAU
No one is coming Peggy, it’s just you and me. The man struck her again and dragged her unconscious body into the bathroom and gently placed her on the floor.

INT. BATHROOM

YOUNG WOMAN POV-
When she opened her terror filled eyes she looked at the little man and pleaded with him to let her go. The man smiled as he wrapped his hands around her slender throat and he squeezed and squeezed until her body went limp. He popped open a switch blade and plunged it repeatedly into her chest causing her blood to spurt out over the walls and bed. The young woman dead eyes opened and locked on his. He felt a stirring in his loins as he looked at her naked, ripe young body.


ESAU
You want me again, huh,” he said as he mounted and entered her again. After he finished he carefully placed her body in the bath tub, folded her arms across her chest, turned on the hot water and tied a pair of her panty hose around her neck. The man closed his eyes as he covered his hands with her blood and smeared it on the walls. On the medicine cabinet mirror he painted a large bloody X. After washing the blood from his body and hands he took out a Polaroid camera and snapped a picture of Peggy and quietly left.
INT. O’HARA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT-DAY

FADE IN:
Flight 360 landed at O’Hara Airport at nine in the morning. It had been a long bumpy flight from the FBI Academy in Quantico Virginia where Chicago Police Sergeant John Ringo had spent the last two days brainstorming with the Behavioral Units profilers. While at the Academy he had received a call from lieutenant, David O'Shea and told that there had been another killing. Ringo was anxious to get to the scene, maybe this time the killer had left a clue, and had made a mistake. He removed his overnight bag and cane from the overhead compartment and waited as the first class passengers departed, ten minutes later he was limping down the long airport concourse and noticed a black woman holding the hand of a small boy and as we passed Ringo winked and the child looking back returned the wink and gave a gap-tooth smile. Suddenly the child let out a loud laugh and I looked back and saw the child struggle loose from the woman’s grip and laughing run into the arms of a well-dressed man. Ringo watched as the two embraced and continued on. Was there anything more magical than a child’s laughter he thought and for a brief moment felt depressed.
Growing up as an only child he always wanted a big family with lots of children running around the house causing havoc, but his wife Elizabeth was too busy, first going to college to get her Master’s Degree in Business Administration and then working her way up to becoming a Vice President at Abbott Laboratories, one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. She often told him about how she hated his job, the late nights and the violence. We both knew that he could probably get a higher paying job as a college professor or researcher, but John Ringo loved being a police officer and on more than one occasion was told that he loved my job more than her. He guessed that it was only a matter of time before their marriage fell apart, she had her priorities and he had his. But right now his slight depression or my marriage had to be put on hold, the X-Man had killed again and that was all that mattered. He maneuvered my way through the arriving and departing passengers his mind elsewhere. He didn’t want to believe that it was the works of the same man or rather the same monster that had brutally killed five other young, black women. He had thought about little else on his flight back from the academy. I reached the automatic doors of the men’s washroom, pushed the button and entered. He splashed some cold water on my face and rubbed briskly. He pulled a paper towel from the dispenser wiped his face and looked in the mirror. His eyes were blood-shot and he needed a shave, his dark skin was still taunt, but he looked tired and older than his thirty-three years. Long ago he decided he looked better with a baldhead rather than a head of premature mingling graying-hair. He went into one of the stalls, sat on the stool and raised his left pants leg and looked at the ugly scar that ran from his calf to my his ankle. He removed a small jar from my pants pocket and gently rubbed the medication on the scar and quickly left the wash room and hurried outside, he had to get to the latest crime scene and hoped that the scene had been correctly preserved and that possible evidence not destroyed or disturbed. Curious police officers often would arrive at the scene and walk around, unintentionally destroying or disturbing valuable evidence. Precious hours had been lost and he understood the importance of examining the crime scene as soon as possible. As he exited the men’s room and looked into the sea of hurrying people and wondered if he was among them, if he was here searching, hunting for another victim, could any of them provide him with an answer, but, he was the hot-shot homicide detective sergeant considered the expert, people looked to him for answers, he was the one with a Doctor’s Degree in Criminology from the University of Virginia and considered by the big brass in the Chicago Police Department as their ace homicide investigator and he knew he was ultimately responsible for catching the killer the media had dubbed the X-Man and he also knew he would take the heat if the X-Man was not caught soon.
The police department hated the term serial killer because it scared the shit out of the citizens who began arming themselves and forming neighborhood watches. Every time the X-Man struck the media had a feeding frenzy giving the name of the victim and address. Since all of the victims were black and lived in Bronzeville, the neighborhood preacher and civil right activist accused the police department of not during enough because they were black and poor, but he knew better, the department was doing all it could to catch the X-Man, but just hadn’t got lucky, he would make a mistake, something dumb, like dropping his wallet in the victim’s home, or like Ted Bundy getting stop for a traffic violation, and he knew that often luck was just as important as investigations. His partner Evetta Lunden was doubled parked at the curb and she waived as I came out the door.


KENNEDY EXPRESSWAY
Serious rain and snow had arrived, cold and unannounced; causing overworked storm drains to back up, flooding basements and in some of the poorer area in the city the streets were assailed by filth. Auto collisions played a drumbeat on the urban streets as impatient drivers hurried to get nowhere. I threw my bag into the back seat, climbed into the unmarked Crown Victoria and slammed the door. Evetta switched on the wipers put the car into gear and the tires whined on the wet pavement as she pulled into the maddening O’Hara traffic. The black unmarked Ford sped down the slick expressway, the wipers going full blast fighting the backwash from the semis and the rain. The heavy rain had replaced the snow and was punctuated by flashes of thunder and lightning adding to the traffic congestion, even at this time of the day. We sat in silence as I laid my head back on the headrest and closed my eyes.

JOHN RINGO
Is it him?

EVETTA LUNDEN
We think so, same MO.

JOHN RINGO
Vic?

EVETTA
Peggy Smith twenty-five, 5’3”, 110 pounds, short black hair and dark skin, no known boyfriends, worked as a clerk in Black Pride bookstore on 51st Street and was a source of joy and help to her mother, Katherine and her Alzheimer afflicted father, Robert. Peggy was found yesterday after the maintenance man went to investigate foul odors coming from the apartment, saw her door opened and went in to investigate, he found her in the bathtub at her Ist floor apartment, where she lived alone, at 5225 South Prairie Avenue estimated time of death between 2-3 am rainy and snow and she was a member of Melony Fitness Center in Dolton, Illinois.

RINGO
Let’s go to the scene, ok?
What’s the lieu saying?

EVETTA (SMILING)
The little general is in his usual tissy, with his no-nothing ass, getting in the way, fucking things up. He’s got the best detectives in the department and he won’t leave them alone, and giving the standard line of bullshit to the media and waiting for you to hurry back,

RINGO (LAYNG HIS HEAD ON THE BACKREST AND SIGHING)
You know all of the murders seem to be random and senseless, Wake me when we get there.

EXT. 5225 SOUTH PRAIRIE AVENUE
Evetta nudged me as she parked the car next to a three flat depressing looking building two doors down from 5225 South Prairie Avenue I awoke and looked around.

EVETTA (HOLDING A WHITE STYROFORM CUP)
Here, I thought you might need this,


RINGO (REMOVING THE CAP)
If you weren’t married to my best friend and I wasn’t the godfather to your three boys, I would hit on you.

EVETTA (LAUGHING)
And I wasn’t damn near old enough to be your mama.

RINGO (TOSSING THE CAP OUT THE WINDOW)
Who else is assigned?

EVETTA
Numnuts assigned Marcus Burke as the lead detective until you came back and Charley Turner, lead I.D. Tech. Turner was as grouchy as ever, but as usual very careful. He shot color and black and white photos and videotapes of the Vic and the apartment, sketched a floor plan that showed all angles of the apartment and the bathroom and filled out a VICAP report and a death scene checklist. The Medical Examiner Office sent Doc Dixon, their chief pathologist, Doc Dixon examined the body. The cause of death was strangulations but lacerations were found on her scalp, results of a blow with a blunt instrument and she was raped before and after death. Everything else in the apartment was in order but like the others, all of her underwear was missing.

RINGO
This guy is getting quite a collection of women panties and underwear, maybe he planning on opening up a ladies underwear boutique.


EVETTA
Charley found some open and unopened mail in her bedroom and a three day old Sun-Time Newspaper, O'Shea ordered everyone not to touch anything we didn’t have to and you can go from there.

RINGO
Fibers, hair any kind of trace evidence.

EVETTA
Charley vacuumed the entire apartment, we’ve got six bags, and it’s at the crime lab.

RINGO
Ok, let’s do a walk-around before we go in.

EXT. ALLEYWAY BEHIND 5225 SOUTH PRIARIE AVENUE
Evetta gathered up the folder and the clipboard. The snow and rain had stopped and we walked north on Prairie, turned right at the corner and walked the half bock to the Chicago Transit Authority Elevator station and entered the alley. The smell of rotten garbage, dog shit and decaying rodents were accentuated by the cold wind. A Chicago Transit Authority elevated train came to labored and noisy stop at the 51st Street elevator station and showered the alley with dust and sparks; we waited until the train moved on. This area of the city three miles from downtown and two miles from the expensive high-rise apartment buildings overlooking Lake Michigan consisted of ancient derelict tenement buildings, boarded up businesses, Arab liquor stores and storefront churches. Stray alley cats could be heard scrambling towards the overflowing garbage cans as the rats some as large as cats, hurried away. The alley creatures ran towards building openings and the cats hissed as they took flight after their prey,

EVETTA (WHSPERING)
I don’t think they like cops in this neighborhood.

RINGO (WATCHING THE HOSTILE EYES IN THE ALLEY)
I agree.

FADE IN:
They passed a fenced- in yard and a large pit-bull secured to a heavy chain came from somewhere growled and attacked the fence with a fury. An old woman with different colored rollers in her thin gray hair and wearing an oversized pink and yellow house dress with a pair of mismatched house slippers that covered her ashy bare feet and carrying a garbage bag, smacked the large beast with the back of her hand. The animal whimpered and lay on the ground. The woman eyed me and Evetta suspiciously and removed the lid on the garbage can. Large black flies flew out the can and she casually waived them away. Evetta nodded and smiled at the woman but she looked away. As we continued down the alley I could feel her eyes watching us.

RINGO
Remind me to have someone interview her, people think that serial killers jump out the bushes and grab their victims, but most of the times it is someone they know; a co-worker, the mailman and an old lady like that that have nothing else to do but look out their windows might have seen something.

EVETTA (MAKING A NOTE OF THE ADDRESS)
I read that the Summerdale Sandal that happen nearly fifty years ago was the result of a old lady going to the bathroom to pee, around three in the morning, looked out her window and saw the police officers placing stolen goods into their squad car.

FADE IN:
We continued walking and stopped at a battered sign on a post that read, 5225. I searched the entire area, looking downward. The rain and snow had eliminated any footprints and the back yard was littered with foul smelling, rotting garbage and discarded furniture. It began to snow again and the sky became an overcast gray. I searched the perimeter of the small yard first, walking beside a worn wooded fence eyes trained downward, I found nothing. We walked up the stairs to the rear wooden porch that had gaping holes in the floor and I shook the door that showed signs of being jimmied but was unlocked, when I gently pushed the door open the

(CREAKING SOUND)

After entering, Evetta took the floor plan out the folder and I made a note of the noisy hinges. Something wasn’t right; inside the apartment was an unnatural quietness, someone was in the apartment. I pulled out my .44 Magnum and put a finger to my mouth as Evetta pulled out her weapon.

A MALE VOICE (YELLING)
Hello, is someone there?

RINGO
Police!

FADE IN:
An elderly man wearing overalls come into view.

EVETTA (GUN AT HER SIDE)
Who are you?

ELDERLY MAN (VISIBLY SHAKEN)
I’m the building maintenance man, the police told me I could come and clean the apartment

RINGO (Holstering the weapon)
We’re conducting an investigation, give my partner your name and address and we’ll notify you when you can come back.

Man gives the information to Evetta and hurry out the apartment.

RINGO (removed two pair of disposable surgical gloves from his front pants pocket and give one to Evetta.)

FADE IN:
It was a plain, stark apartment, smelling of disinfectant and death. Shadows deepen in corners as we entered the small, clean and tidy kitchen. There were a few pieces of unwashed silverware in the sink, a wood table surrounded by four chairs that held a bowl of artificial fruit and a grocery store receipt. Shaded masks of black fingerprinting powder covered most of the items in the room. Putting on latex gloves, Evetta carefully opened the refrigerator and made a note of its contents; orange juice, butter, mustard and mayonnaise, a six-pack of Miller’s Lite beer and a half filled bottle of white wine. The refrigerator freezer contained a bag of spoiled neck bones, ham hocks and salt pork; she wrote down the expiration date of the items and closed the door. In the cabinet over the sink was a two-pound bag of pinto beans, two cans of mild chili beans, box of cornflakes and nothing else. On a counter was a coffee maker a two-slice toaster and a small microwave oven. Evetta noticed that there were no curtains on the kitchen window; I peered out the window on the south wall at another drab looking apartment building.

RINGO
She must eat out a lot

EVETTA
Or can’t cook
FADE IN:
We walked through a small hallway and into a small living room that contained a brown cloth couch, two brown chairs and a 24-inch plasma wall television. Black dusting powder littered the curtain-less window frame and landing. The floor plan revealed that the window faced a narrow gangway between the buildings and was five feet from the ground. Looking out I wondered if the X-Man had stood on a box and pulled himself up.

RINGO
She must have been very private person, no photographs, and no personal items at all, where is the bathroom?

EVETTA (looked at the floor plan and pointed)
Down the hall on the other side of the apartment if our Vic was taking a shower or in the bathtub, she might not have heard anything

RINGO
Was the window broken?

EVETTA
Nope!

RINGO
The report states that the both doors were unlocked?
EVETTA
Yes sir
FADE IN:
Ringo lifts the window and it went up about a foot

RINGO
This is a pretty small opening for a man to crawl through

FADE IN:
We entered the victim’s equally bare bedroom that contained a queen size bed, a walk-in closet, a three drawer chest-a-draw, a nightstand and a small color television. There were no curtains on the windows that faced the gangway. Evetta carefully open the doors to the nightstand and found feminine napkins, cheap perfume, a half-filled cellophane bag of suspected marijuana and a dildo.

RINGO
The worst part of this job is the uncovering of people’s private lives. Murder has a way of bearing for the world to see and expose all of those private things we spend a lifetime trying to hide. The murder victim does not have time to bury or hide their little secrets; the victim is left unmasked and totally vulnerable

EVETTA
This reminds me of some cheap transit hotel room

RINGO
What do you know about cheap hotel rooms?

EVETTA (SMILING AND WINKED)
I wonder if she ever though someone would find her sex toy

FADE IN:
Ringo opened the fingerprint-dusted drawers; the top drawer was empty and noticed a smug on the top that had been dusted. The second drawer contained socks, neatly folded blouses, rent receipts and other papers. An empty trash basket sat beside the bed and I opened the third drawer and removed a dusted ledger. The ledger contained three columns of checks, checking account deposits and withdrawals another line contained credit cards payments and amount due.

RINGO (OPENING THE LEDGER)
She kept good books, and her last deposit of five hundred dollars was three days before she was killed, she had a balance of two thousand

EVETTA (LOOKING IN THE DRESSER DRAWERS)
Shit that’s more than I got. No underwear, no panties or bras


RINGO (WALKING TOWARDS THE BATHROOM)
Well, let’s wrap this up

FADE IN:
Ringo and Evetta walked towards Peggy’s bathroom her most private sanctuary, with every step they moved closer to the deadly confrontation and Peggy’s final moments on earth. I swung open the door of the bathroom and Evetta handed me the color photographs. Ringo loosen his tie unbuttoned the collar button and mopped his forehead with a handkerchief and placed it back into his pants pocket. The scene was well preserved and processed; the entire bathtub had been dusted as well as the floor, sink, commode and cabinet, inside the medicine cabinet was dental floss, toothpaste, more feminine napkins, aspirins and a toothbrush. Ringo leafed through the photographs, frame by frame; the first photo was a close-up of Peggy’s face. She had long black hair and what appeared to be a nice body. Her grotesque, bulging, oversized eyes were wide open in terror and her face was distorted, a pair of knotted black panty hose was wrapped around her neck and gray duct tape covered her mouth, the images seared themselves into my mind, just like the others. The next photo was a full shot of the Peggy, naked in the bathtub. Another photo was a downward shot showing a long, deep incision that ran from both sides of her neck crossing at the top of her vagina, and the tub was quarter filled with bloody water. There was a full shot of the bathroom that showed the blood on the walls and a blood smeared large x on the medicine cabinet mirror. I walked around the tub and reconstructed the scene like a Hollywood film director preparing to shoot a scene: the killer enters the bathroom; did she know him, was she waiting for him? Was she in the shower or taking a bath and before she could react he hits and stuns her? Did she falls or was she placed inside the tub, was she dead before he carved the x on her body, or alive and felt the blade as it sliced through her skin?


RINGO
Special Agent Wesnek of the FBI Profiler’s Unit who had created a psychological profile of the X-Man told me that most serial killers fits easily into a profile, certain parts of the five similar rituals homicides in Chicago points to a psychotic: a spontaneous unbalanced individual, who may have auditory hallucinations and claim to hears voices or claim that we are receiving messages and commands from God. He may be delusional, which could be influenced by his background or childhood experiences, but three other cases submitted have all the symptoms of someone who is a psychopath. A psychopath differs from a psychotic in that he can be functional, hold a job even have a family, but nearly all psychopaths have antisocial personality disorders and lack a conscience and are prone towards violence to others. They are extremely cunning, charming and calculating and have no regards for human life or suffering. One study suggests that psychopaths have a strong genetic component. The study demonstrates that children with anti-social behavior can be classified into two groups: Those acquired their criminal behavior by genetic influences, and those who acquired it from their environment. His preoccupations with deviant sexual fantasies of one kind of another dates back to his childhood, our study of your case believes that your X-Man is extremely dangerous and will keep raping and killing and it seems like you have an individual that exhibits both traits. Your X-Man don’t want to kill his victims immediately, that would ruin it for him, he got off on the fear of his victims and the medical reports indicate that some of your victims wounds and sexual assaults were per mortem, at or near the time of death. Did the killer knock Peggy unconscious and when she came too did he strangle her just enough for her to lose consciousness again, and when she came too again that when he finally killed her? Any evidence of masturbation or sperm in the bathroom?

EVETTA (LOOKING AT ANOTHER REPORT)
Nope

FADE IN:
Ringo backed out of the bathroom; drained.
RINGO
I know he is still out there, somewhere, searching for another victim. All of the murders had the same Modus Operanti or MO: all of the victims were young black female, between eighteen and thirty-five, all attractive and living alone, all had the large X smeared in the bathroom and all were found naked in the bathtub. All of the victims’ underwear was missing, no fingerprints or trace evidence, no evident of a relationship or association with the victims and all of the victims were raped. After the killings does he calmly walk out the door and leisurely walk down the street, maybe go to a bar for a drink and join a society that he has no use for?

FADE IN:
Ringo staggers and is held up by Evetta.

EVETTA (HOLDING RINGO)
Let’s get out of here

FADE IN:
Evetta drives to the Special Crimes Bureau located at 2900 South Western Avenue

EXT- SPECIAL CRIMES BUREAU
The ancient white stone building used to be a storehouse for CTA buses and was purposely chosen for it remoteness. It was a converted warehouse built in 1935. There were no signs indicating it housed an elite investigative unit that consisted of specially selected and trained detectives and four sergeants who called the place home.

INT-FIRST FLOOR
A large room where the walls and ceiling were painted the usual stale municipal off-white. The room contained cubicles with top of the line computers for the detectives, two interrogation rooms with a row of a bus- station type chairs bolted against a wall and in the basement had four holding cell for prisoners.

FADE IN:
Ringo and Evetta entered the building and waive at Detectives Marcus Burke and Charley Turner that both had telephones to their ears, their suit jackets hung over the back of their chairs and their ties were loosened. They were writing on paper pads lying next to the Chicago Sun-Times, the headlines read in bold print “X-MAN STRIKES AGAIN,” both Detectives distractedly waived back. A young black man sitting hands handcuffed behind his back sneered at another detective who looked up from his desk and pointed to the second floor.


EVETTA (WALKING TO THE COFFEE MAKER SITTING ON A TABLE)
Maybe you should leave your gun here

INT-SECOND FLOOR
On the second floor were six offices; one for the lieutenant, one for each sergeant and one for the departmental clinical psychologist and two civilian secretaries shared a large workstation, Ringo enters Lieutenant David O'Shea office.

RINGO (SITTING DOWN ON ARM OF THE COUCH)
You wanted to see me?

FADE IN:
The lieutenant sitting behind his desk was dressed in his trademark dark blue suit, white shirt and dark tie and with barely a word, pulled the door shut. The dull clattering of typewriters spitting out reports from detectives and the two civilian secretaries from on the other side of his office filled the room.


LIEUTENANT O'SHEA
Don’t sit on the arm sergeant

RINGO (STILL SITTING ON THE ARM)
Long night?
LIEUTENANT
Shit yeah, the chief and the mayor is under a lot of pressure about this X-Man bullshit and you ain’t done shit to catch him.

RINGO (Overlooking the slight)
Got a little insight into the mind of our guy from the FBI, but not much else.

LIEUTENANT
Fuck insight, I need results!

RINGO (GETTING OFF THE ARM AND CASUALLY WALKING TOWARDS THE DOOR
Me too.

LIEUTENANT
What the fuck are you doing to catch this asshole?

RINGO (FEELING THE BLOOD RUSHING TO HIS BRAIN AND HIS ANGER RISING)
(CALMLY)
Everything we can, sir

LIEUTENANT
Whatever you need let me know and by the way, the head of the FBI Behavior Science Unit called and volunteered to help in any way possible, but until there is some federal violation they have to remain strictly as advisors and if this is a serial killer, VICAP, their Violent Criminal Apprehension Program found two other Victims in Gary that match his MO. The Mayor’s office is putting all kind of heat on the Chief, he even suggested hiring a psychic from California, and can you believe that bullshit.

RINGO
They grow California psychics like a cash crop. Talk about a circus if the media get hold to that. We’re trying to keep a lid on this thing, but eventually we are going to have to let the public know that maybe there’s a serial killer out there and the last thing we need is the press getting hold of it an scaring the shit out of the good citizens, the word serial killer scares the shit out of most people and we certainly don’t need good people walking around with guns, we’ve got enough of that already but you know, that if these killings were on the north side, in Lincoln Park, Wrigleyville or Bridgeport, the people would be enraged, It would be on the front page of the Sun-Times and the Tribune, shit the mayor might even demand the governor sent out the National Guard, but who gives a fuck about some poor-ass black women.

LIEUTENANT
Let’s not make this a race thing

RINGO (HEADING FOR THE DOOR)
Everything in Chicago is a race thing

INT-JOHN RINGO’S OFFICE

FADE IN:
Ringo calls Evetta, Detectives Willie Burke and Charley Turner the lead I.D. Tech, and Medical Examiner Doctor Anthony Dixon, Chief pathologist to his office. While waiting he post colored 11x 14 crime scene photos of the victim on the wall board. Willie Burke is the first to arrive, he is wearing red and black Michael Jordan gym shoes, red and black Michael Jordan sweat suit, a large gold chain hang around his neck and a red and black dew rag is tied around his bald head, Evetta s next to enter.

EVETTA (SMILING AND LOOKING AT WILLIE)
I thought the lieu told you to dress like a detective, not a pimp or bang-banger.

WILLIE
Well he did, but I explained to him to get information you got to fit in and if he wanted me to get Intel on X-man, leave me alone. He just shook his head.

FADE IN:
Charley Turner and Doctor Dixon enter and take a seat. Charley had a stocky frame and a loud gravelly voice and he always looked like he was angry at somebody or something, but he could find trace evidence that others missed. Doctor Anthony Dixon was in his early sixties, maybe five feet tall and weighed maybe 140 pounds and was considered an expert in the field of forensic science. He was fastidious and seemingly had a hand fetish because he was always washing his hands and cleaning his spotless fingernails. The doctor took out a nail file and started cleaning his nails. He wore black pants and a white, heavily starched shirt and a pressed white laboratory coat with a plastic, pictured ID badge clipped to the top pocket.

RINGO
What we got doc?

DOCTOR
Not much, not a lot to tell you about Peggy, she was raped before and after death, she died of manual strangulation: suffocation, same as the others. The cuts were per mortem, but made with a slender bladed knife and if I remember correctly the other Vics were cut up with kitchen knives. We didn’t get the body for two days you know, so it was hard to get too much. There were small traces of marijuana in her blood and we sent her handbags over to the lab but we found nothing under the nails or on the fingers. We found sperm which is being examined for DNA and hopefully our unsub, is in some DNA database, if not when we get a suspect we can check to see if there is a match, we’re still trying to determine if Peggy was killed while in the bath tub or somewhere else.

FADE IN:
As the doctor sat down the door opened and Monique Brown, the Department Clinical Psychologist entered. Monique Brown was very dark with keen features and prominent cheekbones, a trait inherited along with her coloring from her maternal great-great grandmother that was a full-blooded Sioux Indian and her great-great grandfather who was a runaway slave. She was witty, charming and most of all smart. She looked like one of the old Regal Theater showgirls, trim and athletic looking with a small waist, shapely legs and the haughty air of an Indian Princess, out of time and place, but royalty nonetheless. Her voice was soft and soothing and still had a charming North Dakota accent. Monique had the disposition of a patron saint and an easy way with people, which accounted for her success as the Department’s first black female clinical psychologist. Her deep black eyes were hypnotic and was rumored that she had hypnotized police officers and suspects. Police headquarters far removed from the Special Crimes Bureau is a combination of veteran police officers, aggressive young male officers and few female officers. It is rumor headquarters. Interdepartmental jealousies were the cause of most of the rumors, when someone started to advance, a rumor would surface to shed doubt on the qualifications of the person and some of these doubts however unfounded could linger in the minds of the most well intentioned officers for years and the rumors that had some validity could linger in the halls of police stations long after the subject of the rumor had retired or died.
Everyone at one time or another in the department was the subject of rumors. Lieutenant O'Shea was rumored to get his promotions because of clout, not accomplishments; Lieutenant David O'Shea came from a family of Irish Chicago Police Officers. His grandfather Sean was a body guard for the late mayor and his father William retired as a Deputy Chief of Detectives. The O'Shea family had always lived in Bridgeport, the democratic bastion of Chicago and the neighborhood of most of Chicago mayors. David lived next door to his widowed father with two daughters and wife. O'Shea was thirty-two years old, overweight and had a ruddy complexion that turned beak red when upset, angry or drunk. He was a little man under five feet eight the height requirement for police officers and it was rumored that he stood on his grandfather and father’s shoulders to meet the requirement. His sparse, thinning red hair was the same color as his scalp and there were deep wringles around his eyes. After graduating from the academy he was assigned to the Crime Analysis Bureau where he worked days, a straight forty hour week and off on weekends, whereas most rookie police officers were assigned to a district on the Ist Watch or midnight shift and never had a weekend off. Department regulations required an officer must have two years on the job to take the sergeant examination, so after exactly two years David took the exam and was promoted to sergeant. Unlike most newly promoted sergeants who are assigned to a patrol district usually on midnights, David was assigned to the Communication Center another soft job, two years later he was promoted to lieutenant and assigned as an administrative aide to the Chief of Detective, Donald Nash. Nash had been an aide to David’s father and was David’s godfather. When the Special Crimes Bureau, under the Chief of Detectives was organized, Nash assigned David as the commanding officer and he hand-picked five Irish detectives as his personal assistants Ringo got assigned to the Special Crimes Bureau because his aunt was a politically connected with a powerful black alderman. Rumors about Monique were varied, as rumors often are; rejected suitors who felt that if a woman didn’t fall for their tired lines she had to be gay, probably started some of the rumors, Other rumors alleged that she had gotten her well paying, soft position by sleeping with some high political or police department official, also never proven. Monique was the only member of the force who could act autonomously and as such was the target of rumors by a few envious women.

MONIQUE (WALKING IN FRONT OF THE GROUP)
I just received a fax from the FBI’s Criminal Profile Unit and it might interest you, they wired me a telex with all kind of qualifying statements, but what is interesting is that they interviewed fifteen sexual psychopathic serial killers deemed criminally insane and lust murders, and the most striking thing about most of their cases were the explosion of sadistic violence that went far beyond just raping their victims; carving symbols into their bodies, removing parts of the body and mutilations. They concluded that our Mr. X-Man is probably a sexual psychopath which, they defined as an individual that receive uninhibited gratification in criminal, sexual or aggressive impulses and the inability to learn from past mistakes, he is also a quiet, isolated individual with a schizoid personality and is charming, intimidating and use sex and violence to control others to satisfy his selfish needs. He is lacking in conscience and feels no empathy for his victims. He is probably black and can blend in with the neighborhood, in his early twenties and a bookworm. Psychopaths are glib and superficially charming, and many psychopaths are excellent mimics of normal human emotion; some psychopaths can blend in, undetected, in a variety of surroundings, including the corporate or business environments. There is neither a cure nor any effective treatment for psychopaths; there are no medications or other techniques which can instill empathy, and psychopaths who undergo traditional talk therapy only become more adept at manipulating others. The consensus among researchers is that psychopath stems from a specific neurological disorder which is biological in origin and present from birth; this may explain his fascination with women underwear and the use of panty hose as his kill tool. He probably had an intensive period of bedwetting way past the preschool age, enjoyed torturing and killing small animals and probably had an extensive juvenile record for petty crimes; shoplifting, truancy and violence towards other children and he may have had a problem establishing a sexual identity. He more-than-likely appeared immune from punishment and nothing probably seemed to modify his behavior so I would guess that the foster parents finally gave up and he was sent to another foster home and his behavior worsen. He has no real father to identify with and who knows what his foster fathers were like. He probably went through a period of being a peeping tom - a voyeur, maybe looking at the other foster girls as they dressed and undressed or he could have a testosterone imbalance like that sicko Richard Ramerez, the so-called “Night Stalker,” who raped and killed a lot of young women in the eighties. As he got older he may have had an unpleasant sexual experience with a prostitute, but here is what interesting, an older woman or young girl may have raped him at an early age and maybe he found a girl that he liked and thought she was interested in him, but only to find out later that she only felt sorry for him. This would have happened in his late teens or early twenties. He had a lot of guilt and tension developed around his sexual identity or lack of it and it has been building. He may have tried homosexual affairs that also went nowhere. So he dedicated himself to reading erotic magazines and books and became an insomniac, he may be hearing voices and/or misinterpreting reality, he lives in his own made-up fantasy world, where he is all-powerful and sexually potent. It might be helpful for you to know what kind of person you are dealing with and maybe helpful in catching him, which, I know you will, our guy thinks he’s super clever like that character in Silence of the Lambs, but he’s not as sharp as you guys. If this unsub is a sexual psychopath, which I think he is, rather than a psychotic, remembered he could be very charming especially to young impressionable women. He could be very attractive and is probably a pathological liar, a Ted Bundy type and has a grandiose sense of self- worth and importance. He is probably impulsive and is very, very angry and receives erotic satisfaction by killing and raping the women. He probably hates himself; he is willing to abandon his job, family and any friends if he has any. From the reports I’ve read he mutilates the bodies, carving an x into their chest and poses and props them up, he could be getting off from the act of killing itself. You’re searching for a very dangerous and sick individual that needs help, and I don‘t think he‘s going to stop killing. The sexual psychopath is one of the most fascinating and distressing problems of human experience. For the most part, a psychopath never remains attached to anyone or anything. He lives a “predatory” lifestyle and feels little or no regret, and little or no remorse - except when they are caught. They seek relationships, but see people as obstacles to overcome and be eliminated. He sees people in terms of how they can be used, he use people for stimulation, to build their self-esteem and we invariably value people in terms of their material value. A psychopath can have high verbal intelligence, but he typically lacks "emotional intelligence," he can be expert in manipulating others by playing to their emotions. The lack of emotional intelligence is the first good sign you may be dealing with a psychopath. A history of criminal behavior in which they do not seem to learn from their experience, but merely think about ways to not get caught is the second best sign.

RINGO
Evetta in all of the killings you sad there were no indications of forced entry; no broken windows no kicked in doors, no fingerprints, no trace evidence, no nothing, correct?

EVETTA
That’s correct sir, this unsub is very, very careful and for some strange reason, probably as a souvenir, takes the victim’s underwear.

RINGO
Ok guys, let get to work

FADE IN:
As the team leave Monique grabbed my arm.

MONIQUE
Let’s go to my office.

FADE IN:
Ringo follows Monique into her office and looked at her framed diplomas from Duke University, pictures of her and her parents overlooking a deep canyon in the Grand Canyon National Park and a picture of a young girl. She turned on CD player and the wailing sound of Miles Davis filled the small room.

MONIQUE (POINTING TO A FOUR CUP ESPRESSO COFFEE MAKER)
Want a cup?

RINGO (SHAKING HIS HEAD AND FROWNING)
No Thanks, too strong for me.

FADE IN:
Monique pours herself a cup of coffee and walked pass me to her desk Ringo noticed her smell, sweet and tropical.

MONIQUE
Sit, please, you look worn out

RINGO (FLOPPED DOWN INTO A COMFORTABLE, HIGH BACK CHAIR)
Long day

MONIQUE (SIT DOWN, KICKED OFF HER SHOES, TUCKED HER KNEES TO HER CHEST AND LOOKED AT RINGO)
How is the case going?

RINGO (SIGHING)
Nowhere!

MONIQUE
How is Detective Ringo handling all this?

RINGO
Going along

FADE IN:
Monique sat down her coffee cup and walks to a file cabinet, retrieves a folder, sits down beside Ringo and crossed her long athletic legs. She smelled sweet and clean as if she had just gotten out a scented bath and maintained an erect posture that emphases her full figure, she did this without seeming pompous or vain.

MONIQUE
How do you deal, mentally and emotionally with all this violence? How can you function when you see people mutilated and murdered in all kind of grotesque’s ways?

RINGO (QUIET FOR A MOMENT)
It's what I do, somebody got to stop them, and somebody has got to be concerned about the victims and their families, to try to bring these families some sense of closure, some peace.

MONIQUE
You know this is a very sick individual and probably were abused as a child and have a thing against women. Do you blame yourself for not catching the killer?

RINGO
In a way, yeah I do and I don’t want to feel any sympathy for this man, I didn’t care what kind of unpleasant childhood he had I don’t feel sorry for him. Being a clinical psychologist you may look upon X-Man as a victim himself but to me he is a cold-blooded killer who has to be stop, arrest if possible but death more preferred.

FADE IN:
Monique looked at him briefly and the look had nothing to do with police work, as Ringo pushed opened the door, checked his watch and hurried from her office.

CHAPTER


FADE IN:
Esau sat in a patched chair in Room 1B in the run down transit motel located at 39th South Calumet Avenue talking to himself. He had just finished doing two hundred sit ups and two hundred pushups. He felt good and said to himself, “I am a God; I can give life and take life.” He had spent an hour trying to convince himself that he was not a cold-blooded killer but was ridding the world of worthless women that used their sexuality to tempt and control men. He hated all the rules that govern society and told people how to live their lives.

FLASH BACK: -10 June 1973
Esau Sneed was two years of age in 10 June, 1973, when he saw his mother, a heroin addict sitting naked in a half filled bath tub with a pair of worn pantyhose loosely tied around her neck, eyes closed and her arms forming an X across her chest, he never knew his father and he doubted if his mother knew. One morning when he was three, he heard loud voices in their two room apartment, when he looked into the bathroom he saw his mother in the bloody tub her arms forming the customary X across her chest and a needle sticking out her arm. He heard one of the people talking about his mother dying from an overdose and how she had mutilated herself. A lady from the Department of Children and Family Services wrapped Esau in a blanket and took him to a large room where he spent the night with other abandon or abused children. Esau spent four years at the orphanage before being placed with the Whitleys, Demetrius and Donna. Demetruis was a big man over 230 pounds and over six feet and a drunk. When he was drunk he would beat his small wife Donna and Esua for no reason other than just being plain old mean. Donna was very submissive and the years of abuse caused her to look older than her thirty-five years. Esau was seven when he was sent to their home and he remembered his first night in their home, Demetruis came home drunk and raped his wife in front of him. Demetrious seemed to get pleasure forcing Esau to watch while he had sex with his wife and eventually Esau wanting to watch and became fascinated with Donna’s body. While a student at Finger Elementary School on the far south side of the city Esau was fascinated by his female classmates; he carved a hole in the girl’s washroom wall and would watch the girls as they used the facilities; he would stand below the stairs and look under their dresses as they walked up or down, when he saw the private parts of some of the girls who didn’t wear panties he would become aroused and felt a hardness in his penis. Donna would braid his long straight hair into pigtails and tie them with barrettes, she also told Esau how she always wanted a daughter and she would alter her panty-hoses to fit him. Esau was physically unimpressive at around four feet, a little under fifty-five pounds, but he had high cheekbones, a strong jaw-line that formed angular planes, sharp facial features, dark black eyes and a coffee colored complexion, but because of his size, his high pitched voice and his good looks he was bullied by the other boys to protect himself he carried a rusty switch-blade knife he found in the alley. In spite of his home life and the bullying, he was an excellent student and had been tested at having an IQ of 160 and considered by many of his teacher as charming and a genius, but other study’s revealed that he lacked social skills and often manipulated the younger children and seemed preoccupied with deviant sexual fantasies about young girls and women. Esau was often teased by his classmates for the braids and barrettes, in his hair and when we found out about the woman panties he wore, the teasing increased and the girls called him “Weirdo,” and would snicker, giggle and make fun of him. At home he found homework boring so he read romantic novels of Charles Baudelaire the 19th Century French poet and translator who wrote that “Unless sex was sinful, it was boring and meaningless,” and the works of Jean-Jacques Rousseau the 18th Century Swiss philosopher, writer and composer and was especially fond of his saying, “That when imagination is combined with sexual desire the results is twice as intoxicating.” He read over and over their love scenes that described the beauty of the female body and he day-dreamed about making love to beautiful women. He lacked the courage to pursue or talk to the few girls he was attracted to instead he would attempt to ease-drop on them when they were undressing for gym or in the bathroom. When he was eleven years old and in the eighth grades he stopped going to school and decided to runaway. He was in his room packing his few clothes in shopping bags when Demetrius entered.

DEMETRIUS (DRUNK)
What the fuck you doing little mutherfucka?

ESAU (YELLING)
Getting the fuck out of here?

DEMETRIUS
Fuck you are what about the fuckin’ money we get for keeping your black ass

ESAU
Fuck you and the money

FADE IN:
Demetrius blind with rage and cheap wine lunged at Esau who easily side-stepped him and hit him hard in his beer belly. Demetrius doubled over and threw up a reddish liquid over the soiled bare floor. After regaining his balance Demetrius lunged again and grabbed Esua in a bear hug. Esua pulled his switch-blade knife from his pocket and kneed Demetrius in his groin. Demetrius released Esua and screamed as Esua plunged the knife into Demetrius neck and was immediate sprayed with blood, Demetruis grabbed his neck made a gurgling sound and fell. Esua straddled the fallen man and continued stabbing him. He heard a scream, turned around and saw Donna standing in the doorway, covered with Demetruis blood; he attacked Donna, stabbing her numerous times. When Donna fell to the floor her flimsy house dress flew up exposing her private parts. Esau got an erection. As he mounted and entered her he saw the fear in her eyes and heard her shallow breathing, in a moment she let out a gasping sound and her eyes went blank, Esau felt something in his penis a sensation he had never felt before, he let out a moan and felt something surging through his penis and he noticed the white stains on Donna’s leg. After a half-hour of raping Donna he dragged her dead body into the bathroom and placed her into the tub which he felled with lukewarm water and carved an X on her chest. For the next eight years Esau drifted between Gary, Indiana and Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Chicago. In Gary he joined the G’D’s street game and began selling crack cocaine a block from a catholic all girls high school, he eventually got addicted on crack and the prescription drugs Valium, Ativan and Librium. Esau usually worked the afternoon shift and arrived at his spot generally about 3:00 pm just as school was letting out. He watched the young girls giggling and whispering as they walked, their red and blue pleated short shirts blowing in the cool breeze and their starched white blouses straining to hold in their developing breast. One of the young girls, he figured to be about fifteen caught his eye. She was tall and shapely with dark hair that hung to her waist and she would often smile as she passed him, her name was Mary Jones, he knew she wanted him. It was 10 January 1999 snow and ice covered the streets and the temperature was five below zero with a wind chill of ten below. His boss Billibob told him that the weather was too bad and to take the night off. As Esau was leaving he saw Mary leaving the school with two other girls. The two other girls rushed to a black Ford and he heard a male voice offer her a ride but she refused, pulled her scarf tighter around her neck and started walking. The sky was a dull gray and bolts of lightning leaped across the sky as Mary walked quickly through the depressing neighborhood of boarded up houses and abandon warehouses. The streets were deserted as Esau took a hit of crack and followed her. A gust of wind blew her skirt up to her waist, revealed white panties. Esau got an immediate erection and took another snort of the drug, he was feeling good and his strong erection was beginning to hurt he knew he had to get it off. Unaware that she was being followed Mary walked into an alley behind a warehouse.

ESAU (TO HIMSELF AND CLOSING THE DISTANCE)
She wants me

MARY (TURNING AROUNG AND SMILING)
Hi

FADE IN:
Like a lion attacking his prey, Esau lunged at the girl striking her hard with his fist. The young girl fell to the ground unconscious. Esau dragged her into the abandon warehouse where he found some old rope and bound her hands and feet. As he was undressing her, Mary opened her eyes and saw Esau standing in front of her rubbing his erect penis. He moaned as he ejaculated over her body and asked, “Do you see my big dick, bet you would like to touch it or better still suck it wouldn’t you?“ Mary tried to scream but was knocked unconscious again. Esau took off her panties and placed them into his pocket; he then removed her pantyhose and tied it tightly around her neck before raping her. Mary came too just as Esau was climaxing and pulling the pantyhose tighter, he stabbed her several times, carved an X into her chest and smeared a bloody X on the dirty walls. The murder and rape of Mary Jones brought an increase in the police presence in the neighborhood, uniform police officers and detectives were everywhere, hassling the drug dealers and gang bangers. Billibob the gangs Regent told Esau that he was closing down the spot until the heat was off. Esau and other drug dealers went to a gang safe house and spent two weeks snorting crack, drinking gin and beer and cooling out, but Esau was restless he remembered how good it was with Mary Jones, he wanted that feeling again. After his homeboys had passed out, he left and took a cab to Smith Street, a known hangout for prostitutes. Even though it was March, cold and snowy the working girls were out in full force, many wearing miniskirts or very short dresses. Esau snorted a vial of crack paid the cab driver and began walking the street looking over the girls. The steam came out of the sewers and the street smelled of bar-b-que ribs, rotting garbage and unwashed bodies, loud music came from the rundown bars and everyone looked cold. Esau was stopped by a woman who looked to be in her fifties, her red wig sat crookedly on her head and the fake eyelashes had started to drooped. She put her arms in his and looking down at him.

PROSTITUTE (WHISPERING)
Good fuck and suck, only fifty bucks little man.

ESAU (ESAU SNATCHED HIS ARM AWAY AND HISSED)
No thanks

FADE IN:
Esau continued walking and got numerous offers from the working girls some stomping their feet to keep warm others opening their coats to advertise their wares. Esau saw a young girl standing against a wall with an older woman. She looked as young as Mary, but not as pretty. The blazing red lipstick was smeared on her lips and ice cycles hung from her weather beaten hat. He knew that her ragged coat could not be providing much warmth, he stopped.


OLD PROSTITUTE (SMILING)
Looking for some fun, two for the price of one

ESAU
How ’bout you, you working?

YOUNG PROSTITUTE (LOOKING DAZED)
Fifty bucks for a blow, I don’t fuck

ESAU (MUMBLES)
That’s kinda high for a head job

OLD PROSTITUTE (STILL SMILING)
Another fifty and you can fuck me after Rita gives you some head

ESAU (LOOKING OVER THE TWO PROSTITUTES)
Ok young blood, you got a spot?

YOUNG PROSTITUTE
Upstairs!

OLD PROSTITUTE
I’ll be waiting down here, honey

FADE IN:
Esau followed the young woman up the rickety stairs to the second floor; the woman opened the door and stood aside. Esau walked into a large room that only contained a bed and a strong smell of marijuana and sex. Still not talking, the woman sat on the bed and waived Esau over. Esau slowly walked over to the bed and she begins unzipping his pants and pulled out his hard penis and put it in her mouth. Esau could feel her warm lips going up and down on his penis, but he didn’t want to climax like this he wanted to fuck. Esau slowed removed a stocking containing coins and hit the woman, as she fell back on the bed she involuntarily bit down hard causing blood to gush out.“Bitch,” he screamed as he hit her again and again. Esau raped the obviously dead woman, dragged into the bathroom and placed her into the tub, removed her panties, folded her arm in an x and made a bloody X on the bathroom wall and took a snap shot before leaving out the back door. Esau walked slowly down the dark street, pulling his coat tight to hide the blood and boarded a Greyhound Bus for Chicago and joined the Chicago G’D’s street gang as a drug dealer. On 10 June 2001 Esau killed Sandra Wheatly a waitress in East Chicago, Illinois and on 10 July 2005 he killed Janice Woods, a Liberian in Harvey, Illinois. Esau became more and more addicted to crack and prescription drugs and began using more drugs than he sold, when the gang leaders found out he was severely beaten and kicked him out the gang.
In May, 2007 Esau got job as a laborer for the DB Construction Company which, was constructing a building at 44th South Western Avenue. All day he pushed heavy carts and wheel barrels, loaded supplies and material for the carpenters, electricians and other tradesmen. It was a dirty job and he hated it, but what he hated more was the disrespect he received from them. His boss was a young black woman named Ada and she was a total bitch. Ada was always yelling at him and accusing him for being lazy and late reporting for work or coming back from lunch. The tradesman with their tool belts strapped around their waist and the neatly pressed uniforms was constantly yelling at him to hurry up. Today was a hard day, Ada and the tradesmen were on his ass and to make matters worse, he was told that today was his last day, he was being fired. During his lunch break Esau sat alone at the lunch bench and downed Valium, Ativan and Librium with a gulp of coffee and day-dreamed mostly about Ada, he could think of a lot of imaginative ways to make her suffer. He visualized how she would look dead and naked in a bath tub after being fucked in the ass, but he knew it was too soon after the last one.

ADA (SCREAMING)
Lunch over, Esau get your black ass back to work

FADE IN:
Esau looked up from the bench and saw Ada towering over him. She was a tall woman, at least six feet and she seemed to enjoy looking down at him with her upturned nose, too much makeup and gapped teeth. Esau could feel the pills working, he was losing control and felt crazed. He got up from the bench and looked up Ada.


ESAU
Fuck you, you ugly motherfucker

ADA (LOOKING AGRILY AT ESAU)
You’re fired, you little fuck,
FADE IN:
Esau walks off the construction site, the drugs were working, he felt good, and he wanted to fuck, to kill, and to take out his anger at Ada on some other black woman who always was fucking over some poor black man. He knew if he killed Ada the police might suspect him, so he had to find another black bitch. He walked to 43rd South Western Avenue and took an eastbound bus to 43rd South King Drive transferred to a southbound bus. He looked out the dirty bus window at the thousands of blacks who lived, worked and died there. Esau closed his eyes and remembered how when he was a young boy he and his mom Avery, when she wasn’t high, would stroll down what used to be called South Parkway before being renamed Martin Luther King Drive. He recalled how Bronzeville had become the hub of activity it was a thriving, vibrant and self-contained black Mecca of political and economic power seated in Chicago’s 2nd, 3rd and 4th Wards. He recalled his mother pointing out the successful black businesses, civic organizations and churches that comprised an area approximately five square miles, starting north at 31st and ending at 55th Street, State Street on the west to Cottage Grove Avenue on the east. The bus passed black owned banks, hotels and self-supported businesses that comprised the black community. He noticed the magnificent greystones building and mansions on King Drive where many of the black political bosses lived as well as doctors, lawyers, dentists and respected Pullman Porters. He remembered his first trip to Provident Hospital to visit his dying grandmother and how he and his mother looked into the windows of soul food restaurants, and restaurant that served gourmet foods, fine steaks and chops. There were taverns, clothing stores, barbershops, gambling dens, night clubs and poolrooms. Bronzeville was in every way, “A city within a city.”Esau got off the bus at 47th South King Drive and walked passed what use to be the Regal Theater the apex of the black entertainment world in Chicago, the Regal rendered a tremendous boost to the cities black culture and was a lavish Byzantine edifice with its tall columns, plush carpeting and velvet drapes. The theater was the central mainstay of black entertainment life from the late 1920’s to the early 1970’s. Balaban and Kattzs opened the theater on February 24, 1928. It was the depression and most people barely had enough money for the essentials and certainly couldn’t afford a ticket. Never -the- less, the owners kept the tickets cheap which allowed the poor blacks to attend. The theater hired a Blackman Kenneth Blewitt as an usher. Blewitt was an energetic and personable usher and in 1929 he was promoted to manager. Blewitt had four stage shows or revues everyday, 7 days a week featuring beautiful and shapely black showgirls and usually a boring movie in between. Many people with nowhere else to go would spend the entire day at the theater moving closer to the stage after every show. The theater catered specifically to the entertainment tastes of African Americans and featured top named black entertainers who performed on its stage; Cab Calloway, Louis Armstrong, Lena Horne, and Duke Ellington performed there frequently. 47th Street came alive at night; the night sky illuminated with the flashing bright neon lights of the jazz and blues clubs. The Policy Kings were the affluent men in Bronzeville, they drove their finely dressed girlfriends and wives in late model cars as they went to the blues clubs or dinner. The hustler ruled the strip, the policy men, gamblers and pool sharks all called 47th street home. The residents living in Bronzeville believed if you was new to the city and was looking for someone just stand at 47th South King Drive and you would eventually see them, they also believed that you could get anything you wanted on 47th street from girls to drugs, which was mainly marijuana and heroin. Esau walked to Jimmy’s Joint at 51st South Calumet Avenue and sat at the bar and ordered a gin and tonic. He downed a couple more pills and thought about Ada, how to get back at her, how to make her scream. Get control of yourself, you can’t fuck with her, not now, wait,” he heard a voice inside his head say. He looked out the grimy windows of the tavern and noticed an attractive dark skinned young lady leaving the Arab Grocery store across the street. It was about 5:30 pm and starting to get dark. The woman wore a battered overcoat and was carrying a shopping bag. The booze and the pills were really working now; he got an erection looking at her. He left the tavern and followed her to 5225 South Prairie Avenue and watched as the lights came on in the first floor apartment. Esau walked slowly passed the decrepit three and four story brick apartments. Steel shutters covered the abandon businesses. He went around to a gangway next to the building and waited and watched. There were no curtains on the window and he noticed one of the windows was partially opened. He swallowed a couple more pills as he watched the woman undress and walk around the small apartment wearing only a bra and pink panties. He got another erection and knew he couldn‘t wait any longer. He found an old crate, pulled himself up to the window, squeezed through the small opening in the window and entered the apartment.

FADE IN:
Esau felt edgy and anxious so he swallowed a Thorazine pill with a sip of water. He wanted to go out, to find some young thing that wanted him, but he was feeling unusually jumpy and his mind was racing. He wanted to, needed to fuck and kill someone. He was naked except for a pair of laced pink panties and the only light in the dark claustrophobic room was from a dim table lamp. He pulled an old loosely bound album from his suitcase under the bed, the pictures were in chronological order the first picture was marked 10 January 2000, Gary, Indiana, Mary Jones. He looked at the color Polaroid pictures of, Mariah Williams, Tonya James, Robin Honeywell and his latest victim Peggy Smith, they were all naked and looking at him through lust-filled eyes, they wanted him and couldn’t wait. He thought about Peggy. He watched her at the health Club and could tell she was lonely and needed a good fuck. How stupid she was to invite him into her apartment. Well she got what she wanted a good fuck. He remembered her moans of ecstasy as he entered her and how she pleaded with him to go deeper. He remembered how Mary looked as she walked to the Catholic High School in her pleated blue skirt and starched white blouse, her budding breast fitted tightly against her shirt. The second victim was marked 10 February 2000, Rita Maxwell, Gary, Indiana. She also was about fifteen, but unlike Mary Jones she didn’t go to school she was a whore. The third picture was marked 10 June 2001 Sandra Wheatly, East Chicago, Illinois and the last picture Janice woods 2003 Harvey, Illinois. He noticed how they all posed for him with their big eyes bulging with the pantyhose tied tightly around their necks. He could still feel their bodies as he lifted them and took them to be cleaned in the bathtub and he could see the resignation in their eyes, there was no fear or resistance, just acceptance as he plugged the knife into their chest just below the right firm nipple. He got off the chair and looked out the grimy window at the young girls jumping rope on the sidewalk at the Ida B. Wells projects. He watched as a young girl who had just started developing breast jumped up and down, her little breast in perfect time with the rope, the blood rushed to his loins. An old woman wearing a black mini-skirt, black high heel shoes and a battered pee coat that showed her flabby breast hurriedly walk past and displayed a toothless smile, close behind her and holding her hand was an equally old white man.“Dirty fuckin’ whore,” he screamed out the window, but the couple was gone. His stomach ached, reminding him that he had not eaten since early that morning and then he had only two biscuits and coffee at Gladys’s Restaurant. He thought about going back for lunch but he didn’t like eating in front of people. A muscle cramped in his right leg and he rubbed it, he really didn’t mind the pain, he had gotten use to it. He picked up the remote that was chained to the beat-up table and turned to the news. An attractive black woman was reading the news about the recent killing of a pregnant young black woman named Peggy Smith who had been brutally mutilated, raped and killed by the serial killer known as the X-Man. “The Medical Examiner stated that bits of skin under her fingernails belonged to a black person, Sonia Tappper for NBC News.”
In the background were photos of the other six victims believed to be of the X-Man. Enraged he got out and chair and looked closely at the photos, he recognized his four victims but not the other three. Someone was stealing his thunder and putting the blame on him, taking credit for his work. He slammed around the room knocked over the chair and fell. He got back up and slammed his fist into the wall. “Who was this asshole,” he thought to himself. He lit a blunt and slowly sipped a can of Budweiser Beer as the newswoman interviewed Detective Sergeant John Ringo, head of the X-Man Taskforce.“We believe that these killings are the acts of a sick, homicidal maniac, but I want to stress to the people of this great city that we will not permit this city to be terrorized by a sicko or a copycat.”“What the fuck you mean “sicko,” you black muthafucker,” he screamed at the television. He grabbed the remote and turned off the television, walked into the dirty bathroom and looked at himself in the mirror. He turned his head from side to side and admired his deep black eyes, smooth skin, and handsome features. He looked at the scar on his left arm where Mariah Williams had scratched him, but it was nearly healed and only showed a slight scab. “That bitch, Mariah,” he snarled, “Put up a good fight, but she was the best fuck of all of them.”The little man looked at his small but powerful body. He stood only five feet but had well developed muscles from working out daily at Melony Fitness Center. He retrieved a tube of U-Stickem Glue from his pants pocket and sat on the bed. He squeezed out some of the sticky liquid on the back of Peggy’s picture and attached it on the blank page in the album. He lay on the bed and masturbated as the images of the women he had raped and killed flooded his mind, groaning silently he ejaculated; his small body shook as he slowly dozed off.

FADE IN: 20 January 2008-DAY
As Evetta drive to Miller’s Beer Warehouse located at 4300 south Racine Boulevard, parks while Ringo read a report.

RINGO
Peggy’s boyfriend work as a driver assistant for the Miller beer company he agreed to talk us before he starts work.

EVETTA
I think that’s him standing by the time clock, hopefully he can shed some light on Peggy
FADE IN:
Angelo was standing at the time clock smoking a Pall Mall cigarette when Ringo identified himself, the young man nodded, gave him and Evetta a disgusted look and inserted his time card in the machine.

ANGELO
I’ve told the other cops all I know

EVETTA
We know, but we need to hear it first hand, it won’t take long and anything you can tell us about Peggy will help.

ANGELO (ANGELO RETRIEVED HIS CARD AND PUT IT IN THE CARDHOLDER)
Ok, Ok, ask your questions

EVETTA
Tell us about Peggy

ANGELO (ANGELO PUT THE CIGARETTE OUT IN A RECEPTACLE BY THE BENCH)
She was beautiful, warm and kind hearted. She grew up in that apartment where they found her. Her mother was an alcoholic and her father was a recovering addict. I tried to get her to move out the neighborhood, to move in with me, I told her that the neighborhood was too bad, gangs, drugs, drive-byes, but she always said that this was her home and she knew everyone in the neighborhood and wasn’t afraid.

EVETTA
What about her husband and kids?

ANGELO
All I know is that he lives in Detroit and has the kids. I only met the kids once and she never talked about her husband.

RINGO
Any other relatives?

ANGELO
A younger sister somewhere doesn’t know where. She didn’t talk a lot about her family

EVETTA
Hobbies, interests?

ANGELO
About the only thing she really liked to do was go to the movies, two or three times a week when we weren’t together and she worked out at the Hyde Park Health Club.

ANGELO
All I know is that he lives in Detroit and has the kids. I only met the kids once and she never talked about her husband.

RINGO
Any other relatives?

ANGELO
A younger sister somewhere doesn’t know where. She didn’t talk a lot about her family


EVETTA
What theaters?

ANGELO
Mainly in the malls, River Oaks, Ford, she always said she felt safer there, is this going to take long?

RINGO
Did you’ll spend a lot of time together?

ANGELO
Mainly on the weekends, most of the time at my place in Hyde Park, I didn’t like the neighborhood where she lived

EVETTA
How long where you two dating?

ANGELO
About two years

RINGO
How did you’ll meet?

ANGELO
At River Oaks Mall, I accidentally bumped her while making a delivery. I apologized, she smiled and the rest is history.

EVETTA
Did she have a habit of leaving windows opened?

ANGELO
No, she was very careful; she would never leave a window opened even if it’s a hundred degrees outside.
RNGO
Notice any weirdoes at the malls

ANGELO
Shit, there are a lot of weird dudes at the mall

EVETTA
I know, couple more questions and we’re done, any idea who might be mad at her or would want to harm her?

ANGELO
No, she never told me about any problems at work or anywhere. I can’t shake it that if I was there with her maybe it wouldn’t have happened.

RINGO
One last question, where were you last Saturday?

ANGELO
At work damnit, I have to work two Saturdays a month, are we done? Angelo said getting off the bench.

RINGO
You nervous?

ANGELO
Shit yeah, I’m nervous. Everybody knows the first suspect for you guys is the people close to the person

EVETTA
When was the last time you saw Peggy?

ANGELO
Last Thursday, we spent the night together. I dropped her off at work that Friday morning

EVETTA
Did you ever pay attention to her underwear?

ANGELO (PUT HIS CIGARETTE OUT ON THE GROUND)
Not really, why?

EVETTA
What about panty-hose?

ANGELO (ANGELO CLOSED HIS EYES)
I don’t think she ever wore those, I remember her saying we gave her some type of woman’s infection

EVETTA (HANDING ANGELO HER CARD)
Thanks for your time, we’ll be in touch

RINGO PICKS UP THE CIGARETTE BUTT AND PUT IT IN AN EVIDENCE BAGGIE
INT: COOK COUNTY MEDICAL EXAMINER’S OFFICE-DR. DIXON OFFICE
RINGO
Anything on the pantyhose?

DIXON
Nope, cheap, can be purchased at any Dollar or discount store

RINGO
We interviewed the boyfriend and were told that she didn’t wear pantyhose, gave her an infection, maybe he brought them with him

DIXON (RUBBING HIS SMALL, DARK, BUT EXTREMELY CLEAN HANDS TOGETHER)
So, maybe the killer brought them with him but there was sperm found inside her could be the boyfriends, if we could get a sample of his DNA we’ll know definitely.

RINGO (HANDING THE DOCTOR THE EVIDENCE BAGGIE WITH ANGELO’S BUTT)
No sperm was found anywhere in the apartment in this or the other five similar homicides. The victims were average young working women, no money or drug involvement, they all seemingly were picked at random, didn’t know each other, what is his damn motive?” I asked more to myself than the doctor. This is the boyfriends maybe you can get some DNA off it.

DIXON
I’ll send it to the lab with a top priority, check back in a couple of days.


EVETTA
What about the bruise on her head?

DIXON
Not too severe, but it could have knocked her out for a few minutes. Hey Ringo let’s get together for a game of chess one evening at Border’s in Hyde Park, do you some good to get away from this for a minute

RNGO
You’re on, I’ll call you and thanks, doc


FADE IN:
Ringo and Evetta are on their way back to the office.

RINGO
Ain’t it unusual for a woman living alone not to have curtains in her home, especially the bedroom, was she an exhibitionist who got off exposed herself? Had a voyeur who been watching her crawled into the open window and confronted her in the bathroom? Had the killer been watching her and knew her routine, knew when the boyfriend came over and when he left? Were there other routines, common links in the other killings that we have missed? Had she had a fight with Angelo? Was Peggy a victim of a copycat? It was well document that some psychopaths followed murders reported by the media and attempted to duplicate them. Did she use drug and owed a drug dealer? I know he’s still out there somewhere stalking his next victim. I want you to stay in touch with doc. I gave him Angelo’s cigarette butt and hopefully he can pull some DNA from it and I want you to use your snitches to find out how heavily Peggy was into drugs. Dixon said we found small amounts of marijuana in her blood and the CSI crew found some at her apartment. Also see if anyone ever saw her parading around her apartment nude or half-clothed. I’ve got a funny feeling about this one. I’ve assigned Scotty to try to track down her sister and her husband, ok?

EVETTA
Yep, that’s very unusual for a woman not to have curtains in her apartment. Could be a copycat but I doubt it, too many similarities.

RINGO
How are Clarence and the boys?”

EVETTA
Good, he’s taking them camping and fishing at Starved Rock, for some male bonding. Evetta placed the folder into her large bag and looked hard at me, I knew it was mama-nurturing time.

EVETTA
Listen, you come to the house this Sunday for dinner, spend some time with your godsons and chill out, you are beginning to look terrible, do you understand me?

RINGO
Yes ma’am

FADE IN:
After Evetta dropped me off at the office I thought about what Evetta had said, I pulled a small mirror out my desk drawer and looked at myself. Evetta was right I looked terrible and definitely needed to chill, my leg began to ache. I notified the unit secretary and told her I would be at the River Oaks Bally Fitness Center if she needed me.

INT: River Oaks Bally Fitness Center
Bally Fitness Center was a state-of-the art facility located in the River Oaks Shopping Mall on the far southeast side of the city. It had cardiovascular machines, resistance training equipment, exercise classes, personal trainers, tennis courts, saunas, juice bar and a pool. I tried to get in a swim and a workout at least four times a week, even though I was not a dues-paying member, the fitness center like other businesses in the city welcomed police officer and usually gave them a discount rate or no charge at all. The black female receptionist had a baldhead, wore oversized earrings and a thin face. The gymnasium white t-shirt with Bally’s silk- screened across her ample chest displayed hard nipples. She got out of her chair and I noticed her hard and flat dark brown abdomen. She wore white snugly fitting French-cut shorts that rode high on her flanks.

RECEPTIONIST (SEDUCTIVE TONE SHE WHISPERED)
Hi Detective

RINGO
Not too crowded today

RECEPTIONIST
Not yet, just wait a couple of hours

FADE IN:
The club’s stereo speakers were pounding out Lionel Richie’s “All Night Long,” as I changed into my sweats and exited the locker room. A well-shaped, young black woman wearing an orange Lycra body suit so tight it she might as well been naked passed him, smiled and seemed to walking in time with the music. I stopped and watched her as her ass shifted back and forth. I entered a large room, loud rock music was thumping over the room speakers and Lionel Richie’s tune was tuned out, thank goodness, I never could stand Lionel Richie’s commercialized music. Twenty men and eight women who comprised the aerobic class were pumping, flexing, running in place and leaping in unison to the sensual, thumping beat of Teddy Pendergrass. I went through a sliding glass into the smaller weight- room. This room had floor to ceiling mirrors, highly polished wooden floor and smelled of sweat. There was no piped in music and the only sounds were the grunts of the men and women lifting weights. I noticed on a lift bench Hispanic women wearing a low cut sweat shirt and cut-off was lying on her back, lifting a weight above her head and humping the air with rigorous pelvic trusts, legs spread wide, feet flat on the floor. The cut-off shorts had bunched up and I could see underneath, she was not wearing panties, grunting and grimacing seem to be acceptable and desired, and there was no modesty here. An Oriental woman with long black hair tied in a ponytail was working with an overweight young black girl, she spotted me and waived, in a few minutes the young girl left the room.
LEE (SMILING)
Ready for some pain?

RINGO
Let’s get it on, Lee

The personal trainer took me through a series of workouts: fifteen minutes lifting forty pound weights, thirty pull-ups, chest flexes and other exercises that were used in basic army physical training, but being a former Navy Seal this was nothing for me. After the workout I changed into swimming trunks and went into the humid, chlorinated room that housed the club’s Olympic-sized pool. A young woman in a white thong bikini was getting out the pool as I entered. She was striking, long black hair and I noticed that the bottom of the skimpy bikini had slipped into the crack of her buttocks and her nipples were hard, I could not help staring at the pubic hairs that were escaping her crotch. Absentmindedly, she attempted to adjust the tong, gave up and smiled at me as she passed. The pool was usually empty during this time of day. I dove into the therapeutic water headfirst; it always made me feel better being in the water. After two years in Iraq as a member of the Navy Seals, water was like my second home; I was at no disadvantage in the water, and not as much at a disadvantage on land as some people might think, seeing me limping alone. Together with my twenty-minute swims, lifting weights and regular exercises I had forged a strong upper torso and arms and a conditioned quickness with an iron grip. I swam fifteen laps before turning on my back and swimming another ten laps, afterwards I just floated in the warm water, eyes closed and thought about the war and my injury.

FLASHBACK – Kuwait- 1995
My heavily armed five-man Seal Team had been inserted near Kuwait, and we swam ten miles to Al Basra a small fishing village on the east coast. After hiding our swim gear we moved quickly to our objective a 14,300-foot mountain in the Kushan Pass. I was First Lieutenant and in charge of the team, we climbed three hundred feet up the mountain and strategically positioned ourselves on the high ground above a narrow, winding trail. It was a cold, dark and moonless night. I looked through my night vision goggles and saw the forty-man group of Taliban fighters all armed with AK-47 Assault rifles which were slung over their shoulders and bandoliers of bullets draped across their chest casually walking on the trail, I watched as they lit cigarettes and listened as they laughed and talked. Two dusty pickup trucks covered with a brown awning took up the rear. I watched as a tall man walked in front and seemed to be leading the way, he like the other men wore baggy cotton pants and long cotton shirts with a sash around the waist and a dirty turban sat on top of a skullcap. Naval Intelligence learned that this band of fighters were transporting arms and other weapons to other fighters in the area and my team mission was to ambush the fighters and to eliminate them with “Extreme Prejudice,” which was naval intelligent jargon which meant kill them. I selected a bend in the trail the fighters had to walk single file, Corporal Willis Logan, a black man from Chicago and weapons expert was station behind large boulders directly in front of the bend, his .50 caliber machine primed and ready, Sergeant first-class Richard Ramos armed with an RPG or Rocket Propelled Grenade was a few yards behind the Corporal and had an unobstructed view of the tail column of the group and the two pick-up trucks. The other members of the team were armed with Uzi Machine guns and had open fields of fire on the fighters. “Now,” I said over my head microphone.
The sudden burst of automatic machine gun fire broke the stillness of the night as the Seal team totally decimated the fighters. Sergeant Juan Gomez sent balls of fire from his rocket-propelled weapon at the trucks. Men jumped out and others were thrown out the bed of the trucks; screaming and on fire, their torment ended in rapid firing automatic weapons. In ten minutes the trail was covered with mangled bodies and scrap metal. Moans of pain and terror came from the wounded men, some were praying and fingering prayer beads while others mouth agape could say nothing. I signaled the men to the trail and we looked at the carnage.
“Let’s get this over with,” I said impassionedly. Suddenly there was an explosion of gunfire as one of the wounded fighters yelled a holy prayer and fired his weapon towards me he only got off one shot that shattered my knee before the Seal team killed all of the wounded fighters. I slowly pulled myself out the pool and took a hot and then a cold shower, after drying myself with a clean, rough terry cloth towel, I wiped the fog from the center of the shower mirror and looked at my face again and smiled, I looked and felt a lot better.

FLASHBACK 10 Mar 2008
By night, the area between 31st Street north to 55th Street south is controlled by the 43rd Street Hustlers street gang. After years of drive byes, murders and intimidations the gang had total control of all the drugs sold in the area and made regular payoffs to the 2nd District Vice Unit. Ten years ago William “Bull” Jones a Governor in the gang was set-up by corrupt 2nd Police District Vice Officers because he refused to increase their monthly “Nut” or payoff from two thousand a week to five. Two vice-officers planted a quantity of crack cocaine on Bull and charged him with possession and intent to deliver the drug, they knew that if convicted it could result in a long prison term. Evetta and her partner, honest cops in the vice unit, found out about the set-up and broke a golden rule of any police department we ratted out the corrupt officer, They took their information to the FBI because probably the District Commander, Watch Commanders, lieutenants and some sergeants were part of the nut Bull was paying. An FBI investigation led to the arrest of many officers assigned to the district and Bull was released without charging, Evetta and her partner reward for exposing the corruption was to be transferred to other districts miles from their home, but Evetta had made a friend out of William “Bull” Jones.

INT: RINGO’S OFFICE- 5 MARCH 2008
EVETTA
I was thinking, most of the killings have taken place in an area controlled by the 43rd Hustlers, one of their governors owe me big time. I’m going to get in contact with him maybe he or his boys know something.

RINGO
Good idea, but be careful, those guys are dangerous

EVETTA
Will do

FADE IN: COMO INN
Jones met Evetta in a quiet, isolated booth at the Como Inn, an Italian Restaurant on the north side of the city.

EVETTA
I need some information concerning the girl who got killed on 43rd Street

JONES
I heard ‘bout that, what you need, mama?

EVETTA
Firstly, was she one of your customers, and did any of your guys ever see her walking around in her apartment nude or anything like that? Have there been any strange looking dudes hanging around where you do your business? Did your guys working in the alley beneath the el train see or hear anything unusual Saturday night

JONES (LAUGHNG)
God Damn mama I glad you ain’t working narcotics no’mo

EVETTA (SMILING)
I guess you are, ‘cause you know I would be on your ass.

JONES
Let me get the word out, I will hit you on your cell

EVETTA
Thanks man

JONES
Anytime, anyplace I’ve got your back

EVETTA
I going back to 45th Street for a walk around so tell your boys too cool it for a couple hours

JONES
Done mama and we’ll be watching you back also

FADE IN: 4555 South Prairie Avenue -8:00 PM
Evetta arrived at just as the streetlights disturbed the darkness. The street was quiet and there was no people on the street and very little vehicular traffic. Evetta walked around to the rear of the apartment building and noticed black hooded figures that blended with the dark buildings watching as she entered the alley and walked to Peggy’s apartment building. She entered the apartment through the rear squeaky door; in the darkness it seemed even more empty and silent. She switched on the kitchen light and sat down at the kitchen table and imagined Peggy maybe smoking a joint walking to the bathroom. “Was she dressed or naked?” Evetta though to herself. Evetta got up from the table turned off the light and turned on the dim overhead hallway light. As she walked a loose plank under the bared floor moaned under her weigh. She moved down the hall and turned off the hallway light and peered out the window where maybe the killer had entered, the open gangway was pitch black. “Why didn’t she hear the noise from the floor?” Evetta turned on the living room light and looked around, nothing appeared disturbed. She entered the bathroom situated off the hallway and looked into the tub, everything was the same. She moved closer to tub, avoiding the bloodstains and dusting powder. Evetta tried to approach it from the logistics of a killer;”How had he entered the apartment without her knowledge, unless she was in the shower and couldn’t hear him as he climbed through the window, if that’s where he entered? Did he randomly select her or did he know her? Was he a peeping tom who got excited watching and decided to have her? Did he watch her as she moved around the apartment nude or half-nude? Each of the victims had boyfriends or lovers, who occasionally stayed over, yet each victim was alone when attacked, that meant that the killer planned the attacks and put his victims under some sort of surveillance and probably surprised them. Although his killings showed signs of violent, eruptive and psychotic spontaneity, his method of selecting the victims seemed to indicate extensive planning and carefulness, leaving no clues. Like Monique said, this combination of traits indicated behavior attributed more to a psychopath than a psychotic. Evetta went back outside into the dark alley and again she noticed the shadowy figures that seemed to melt into the night. She viewed the rear of the apartment from different angle and walked into the dark gangway. She looked at the entry window and deducted that the killer had to be tall and very strong if he chinned his way up to the window or he had something to step on. She walked to the front of the apartment building and noticed the bedroom window faced south on Prairie Avenue and she could have been seen from the streets walking around in a skimpy night gown or nothing at all, her lithe body silhouetted against the bright bedroom interior light. After walking down the alley a few apartment buildings away she lost sight of Peggy’s building or the gangway. She walked back to 45th Street and turned left at Prairie Avenue. Peggy’s building set back off the street and couldn’t be seen until she was two building from it. The killer could have entered the dark gangway from the street or the gangway, hiked himself up to the window an entered the apartment. The unmark squad car startled her, it pulled up beside her before she realized it was there. Two young plainclothes officer approached, but when she flashed her badge they moved on. Evetta knew that the department needed help in catching the X-Man, a concerned citizen that saw something or maybe even Bull’s boys. Evetta returned to her car, climbed inside, and turned on the interior light. She read the reports of the police officers and detectives who had interviewed the neighbors. None of the neighbors really knew her, although she had lived in the neighborhood all of her life, but Evetta knew that this neighborhood was very mobile, people were always moving in and out and they minded their own business. None of the neighbors saw or heard anything suspicious that Saturday night according to the other detective’s interview reports, there was nothing to draw attention to anything the night of the murder or any other night. Evetta opened the envelope containing the first known victim of the X-Man. Evetta briefly glanced at the photographs of the other four victims and the photo of Peggy as a tear ran down her cheek. Evetta placed the envelope on the car seat got out her car and walked to the porch at 4525 South Prairie Avenue. She knocked on the door and in a few minutes the old woman they had saw at the garbage can peeked through a window facing the porch, Evetta showed her badge.

EVETTA (SHOUTING)
Chicago Police can I talk with you a few minutes?

OLD WOMAN (THE OLD WOMAN OPENED THE DOOR THE LENGTH OF THE BURGLAR CHAIN)

EVETTA (SHOWING THE WOMAN HER BADGE)
Hi, I’m detective Lunden and I am investigating the murder of your neighbor Peggy Smith, may I come in?

OLD WOMAN (STRAINING TO LOOK AT THE BADGE)
Be right with you

A few minutes later the woman opened the door
OLD WOMAN
Sorry I had to pee

Evetta entered the apartment and the old woman motioned for her to sit down. Evetta sat on a comfortable chair and the woman sat on a sheet-covered couch and introduced herself as Mrs. Watson.

EVETTA
Mrs. Watson did you know Peggy Smith?

WATSON
Yes, I’ve known her since she was a little girl; she has lived all of her life in the apartment next door. Terrible, terrible what happened to her, caught anybody yet?

EVETTA
No, not yet, but we’re working hard to catch them or him. We’re trying to get some background on Peggy, what kind of young woman was she?

WATSON
She was a quiet young girl and always respectful towards me and the other older people in the neighborhood. She was married for a while and had two beautiful children, but her and her husband couldn’t get alone, cause I could hear them arguing. After awhile I didn’t see him or the children, I figured they had broken up

EVETTA
Did ever see any men going to her apartment, like a boyfriend or something?


WATSON (SCRATCHING HER HEAD)
Yeah, there was a young man who would come by, generally on the weekends and I guess he must have spent the night ‘cause his car would be in front all night
EVETTA
Did you hear or see anything last Saturday night

WATSON (AGAIN THE OLD WOMAN SCRATCHED HER AND THOUGHT A MOMENT).
Now that you mentioned it I got up about two in the morning to pee and I looked out my bathroom window and I saw her and a man, he didn’t look like the guy who often spent the night, he was a short little man

EVETTA (EXCITED)
Could you see his face?

WATSON
No, he was real short and my bathroom window is setup high

EVETTA
See anything else?

WATSON (BLUSHING)
Yep, she was naked as a bedbug, no clothes on at all

EVETTA
We hear she walked the apartment naked a lot.

WATSON
Who knows what goin’ on with these young people, all they seem to think about is drugs and sex. She walked around in the nude a lot, I guessed she was just a hot momma and sometimes, mainly when the boyfriend was over I smelled pot comin’ from her apartment.


EVETTA
What did you do after you finished peeing?

WATSON
I looked over at her apartment, but didn’t see anything so I figured they were gettin’ it on, I went back to bed. The next morning I saw all the police cars and found out that she was killed

EVETTA
Thank you, Mrs. Watson, you’ve been a great help, here’s one of my business cards, if you think of anything else give me a call

The old woman took the card and walked Evetta to the door.
Once in the car she called Ringo and told him of the conversation.

HYDE PARK BALL HEALTH CLUB -10 April 2008
Esau worked out regularly at the Hyde Park Ball Health Club concentrating mainly on lifting weights and had developed strong arms and hands. Esau watched the short, but well-built woman as she worked out with a personal trainer. The woman was on her back lifting weights while the trainer stood over her, after ten repetitions with the weights the woman and the trainer moved to the treadmill. The trainer set the machine to a fast walking pace and walked away. Esau wore a tight body suit that revealed his well-toned physic and he stepped on the machine next to hers. She was fast walking at a frantic pace and the sweat rolled down her face and into her low-cut gym top. After fifteen minutes she got off the treadmill, took a long drink from a designer water bottle, and placed it in a pink gym bag, smiled at Esau and started to walk away. Esau got off the machine smiled and walked towards the woman.

ESAU
That was some workout, I tried to keep up but it was too fast for me.


WOMAN
Yep it is pretty fast, and you have to work up to it

ESAU
Can I buy you a drink at the juice bar?

WOMAN (LOOKING AT HER WATCH)
Sure, my name is Louise.

ESAU
Esau, when are you here?

No set dates or time whenever I have time, thanks for the drink. I’ve got to run, keep working on your speed

ESAU (BIG SMILE)
Will do

Esau watched as Deloris entered the woman locker room with the trainer, he hurriedly dress waits in his rental car. Ten minutes later Louise leaves and get into a black BMW. Esau follow her as she went west on 55th Street, enter Washington Park and exit at 47th Street. He followed as she past cheap Arab liquor stores, taverns and fast food restaurants. She pulled into a reserved parking space behind the Black Ladies Boutique at 200 East 47th Street. Esau park his vehicle down the street from the location got out and looked through the front window of the boutique. Louise was talking with customers and workers in the Boutique; he read the sign on the door that stated that the store hours were 9:30 am – 5:00 pm. He looked at his watch it was 4:15 pm, he returned to his car and waited. At 5:30 pm the woman and two other females left and an old black man secured the door and the gates. In a few minutes the woman passed him in her BMW, he followed her east on 47th Street and when she turned on Forrestville Avenue and pulled into the garage at 4916 he parked a few doors down. The woman entered her home and Esau watched as the lights came on in the house. For some unexplained reason he felt nervous and strangely alone but he felt the excitement rising, it wouldn’t be long now. Esau watched the quiet street fill with people coming home from work and children playing in the streets. He watched Louise as she watered the plotted plants on the front porch and talked with her neighbors. As dark fell concerned mothers called for their children to come inside. He watched Louise leave the house from the rear door and walk to the garage. “Now is the time,” he mumbled to himself. He was hard now and he found it difficult to walk. He quickly walked into the alley and quietly opened the gate on the rear fence, entered the yard and stood behind a large maple tree next to the garage and looked through the garage window, a dog howled a two or three houses down and others joined in. “I should cut their damn throats,” he said quietly to himself as he silently entered the garage, turned off the light and struck Louise knocking her unconscious to the floor. He pulled down her gym shorts, put on a condom and climbed atop her as Louise came to she begin to struggle. Esau placed a large knife at her throat pulled a rag from his pocket and stuffed it into her mouth.

ESAU
Shut the fuck up or I’ll cut your throat

Louise lay still as Esau tied a black nylon pair of panty hose around her neck and pulled it tighter as he entered her. He became more excited and started to ejaculate when suddenly he saw a man coming into the garage carrying a tire iron his hand. Esau jumped up, losing his erection and the condom slid off. Esau brandished the large knife at the man and when he backed up he ran out the garage jumped the fence and ran out the alley.
Esua was pissed he was just about to get his nut when that asshole came into the garage. He heard police sirens and quickly ducked into the alley and started walking north staying close to the buildings and hiding in the shadows. When he reached 47th Street he blended in with the crowd turned west and popped two more pills.


ESAU (LAUGHING)
Shit, that was close

No one on the street paid any attention to the little man who staggered every now and then, just another 47th Street drunk, they thought. Esau walked west on 47th Street until he reached Prairie Avenue he turned north, at 44th Street he turned into the alley and began looking in windows and at 4327 he saw the silhouette of a woman on the second floor. He stopped and watched. He couldn’t see her face but her body looked good. Esau studied the rickety rear porch and moved further back into the shadows and popped two more pills. He was flying and he had a hard erection. George “Bo” James a drug dealer who worked 43rd Street was also in the shadows and watched Esua as he climbed the rear porch stairs and enter the second floor apartment. It was an old depilated building in a drug and gang infested area. Evetta and I arrived at 10:00 am, police cars and an EMS vehicle were parked in front and a uniform police officer was posted on the front stairs to keep intruders out.

RINGO
What we got?

YOUNG POLICE OFFICER (VISIBLY SHAKEN)
Deceased black female, named Robin Honeywell, Thirty-two, divorced, single mom with two kids, boy three and a girl five, both kids have lived with their father in Detroit since June. Vics an executive secretary at the Learn to Read center on 47th Street. Two months pregnant and William Smith, her boyfriend was the father. Vic was found naked in bathtub, large x carved on her body and a bloody x smeared over the bathroom wall. When the victim failed to show up at work her supervisor sent a co-worker, William Johnson over to check it out. He stated that the front door was wide opened and when he went in he found her in the bathtub

The stink of unwashed bodies, urine and vomit washed over us as Evetta and I entered the dark building. We started up the stairs and stepped around a sleeping homeless man curled up in a dark corner. Another uniform police officer was posted at the second floor apartment surrounded by bright yellow tape and Crime Scene Tech was examining the door. We showed our badge to the officer and ducked under the tape and entered the small twelve-by-twelve, one bedroom apartment. It was darker in the apartment then it was in the hallway. Evetta found a light switch and flipped it, nothing happened. The only light came through the one bare window. We flicked on our flashlights and walked carefully down a narrow hallway trying not to step on anything and entered a small front room that contained a 12 inch television, a two seat brown couch and a brown old recliner. Off from the front room was the kitchen and on the stove was a pot still warm that contained greens. Further down the hall was the bedroom that contained a queen size bed, a three drawer dresser and a small clothes closet. Evetta took the closet and I started looking in the drawers.

EVETTA (LOOKING INTO THE CLOSET)
Nice wardrobe, conservative business suits and dresses, find anything?”

RINGO (OPENING THE FIRST DRAWER)
Blouses neatly folded, bras, women napkins, no panties

EVETTA (RIFLING THROUGH THE VICTIM’S CLOTHES)
No wallet or ID

The air in the bathroom which was next to the bedroom had the smell of death. I swept my light pass the sink, the toilet bowl and finally to the bathtub. As we entered the room we were careful not step in the pools of blood on the floor. The young naked woman was half sitting up in the bathtub full of bloody water, eyes bulging and foam was around her mouth and nose and one hand was resting on the bathtub rim. She was attractive despite the death mask. Her skin was very dark and she had short black hair and a nice body. Duct tape covered her mouth and a pair of brown panty hose was tied tightly around her neck and a deep x was carved in her chest and a large x smeared in blood was on the wall.

EVETTA
Jesus! Thinks it’s him?

RINGO
Yep

A young female Crime Scene Investigator accompanied by Doctor Dixon from the Medical Examiner‘s Office begin to unpack their equipment in the bedroom.

CSI INVESTIGATOR
Ok for us to start detectives?

RINGO
Yes, go ahead

Doctor Dixon squeezed himself between the toilet and the bathtub. He tenderly lifted the woman’s hand and turned it over.

DIXON (EXAMINING THE FINGERNAILS)
Hopefully we can find some hair, fiber or biological trace as he carefully wrapped her hands in plastic baggies. No rigor and the body is still warm, she’s been dead less than twelve hours

Dixon examined her neck and motioned for the CSI investigator to take pictures.

DIXON (POINTING TO THE VICTIM’S LARYNX)
There is evidence of Petechiae and sclera hemorrhage in the eyelids and the nostrils also there is a bloody discharge from the nose and mouth indicating some kind of trauma I believe the cause of death was ligature strangulation, but I’ll know more when I get her on the table

EVETTA
Let’s interview Mr. Johnson

Evetta and I found Mr. Johnson sitting in a squad car, shaking. I introduced myself and Evetta and helped him out the car and we walked to our vehicle, Mr. Johnson sat in the rear seat.

RINGO
Can you tell us what happened?

JOHNSON
Robin worked as an executive secretary at the Learn to Read Center at 47th Vincennes, she was very competent and was always at work half hour before the starting time. Today when she failed to come in, my boss Mrs. Anderson became concerned and asked me to go to her apartment and make sure she was alright. When I arrived the front door was cracked, I knocked and called her name, when I got no answer I went in and found her in the bathtub

RINGO
Did you touch or remove anything?

JOHNSON
No, but I knew she was gone. I was a Marine in Iraq during Iraqi Freedom and I know when a person is gone

EVETTA
What kind of person was Robin?


JOHNSON
A really nice young lady, always pleasant and had a big smile for everybody

EVETTA
Did she have any trouble with her co-workers?

JOHNSON
Not to my knowledge, she got along with everybody, such a tragedy

EVETTA (HANDING MR. JOHNSON HER BUSINESS CARD)
Thank you, and if you think of anything else give us a call

Evetta and I watched as Mr. Johnson walked to his car and drove off.

EVETTA
Hellava way to start your day

RINGO
Yep, certainly is, well, let’s talk to some of the neighbors

Evetta rang the door bell at 4325 South Prairie Avenue and got no answer, although she saw the curtains move, we walked to 4321 South Prairie Avenue and I knock hard on the door.

WEAK VOICE
Who’s there?

EVETTA
Police!

After a moment the door was cracked and an old woman peeped around the door, Evetta showed her, her badge and identification.
EVETTA
We’re investigating the death of Robin Honeywell, did you know her?

WOMAN (THE WOMAN PUT HER HAND TO HER MOUTH)
Oh my God

RINGO
May we come in?

The woman opened the door and directed us into the dining room and motioned for us to sit, we noticed how upset the woman was and waited a minute.

EVETTA
Did you know Robin well?

WOMAN
Yes she grew up in the neighborhood and was a nice girl, always polite and mannerable

EVETTA
Did she have many visitors, males or females?

WOMAN
No, not many but sometimes I would see a young man and her going out, but no. not to many other visitors. Matter of fact just last week she seemed so happy she told me she was pregnant and was going to get married

RINGO
Thank you, we’ll be in touch

EVETTA
We know that Robin Honeywell was about two months pregnant and William Smith, her fiancé’ was the father and has an alibi as well as her husband. There were no prints or any trace evidence, just a laceration on her head that Dixon said was caused by a blunt instrument, there were signs of sexual abuse and the murder weapon was probably one of her kitchen knives, no prints

10 June 2008
I needed a break from the X-man case, I thought about Monique and my ex-wife Elizabeth, deep down I knew Elizabeth was right, I loved my job and knew I would not be happy doing anything else, especially being a college professor. I remembered an old saying, “He who can does, he who can’t teach.”I knew the job was dangerous, but right now if something happened to me, there was no wife or children to be affected. It was 2:00 am, John and his alley cat Piper, that he found abandon in a drain lived in the Quadrangle House at 67th South Shore Drive. It was an expensive adult only building and most of the tenants were professionals; school teachers, police officers, doctors and lawyers. John lived on the 24th Floor and all of his windows faced Lake Michigan. It was a warm night and a soft breeze off the lake was pressing through the screened window along with the bright moonlight. Miles Davis, his favorite artist was doing his thing on the CD player while he was winning an Internet chess game with some character named “TheBobby,” when his cell phone ranged. I looked at the phone and knew nothing good comes from a 2:00 am phone call and picked up the receiver.

LIEUTENANT O'SHEA (SCREAMING)
I think we got another one

RINGO
Where?


O’SHEA
4650 South Calumet, your partner is on the way

RINGO
On the way

RINGO (TYPED ON THE COMPUTER)
You win, gotta go

FADE IN:
The weather had changed and I remembered and old Chicago saying, “If don’t like the weather, wait a few minutes it will change.”The winds had picked up and rain clouds were closing in as I parked in front of 4650 South Calumet Avenue. South Calumet Avenue like many of the old buildings in Bronzeville was once an upper-class neighborhood. The once single family homes have been converted into kitchenettes or three-flat apartments.

EXT: 4650 South Calumet Avenue.
Police officers had moved a large crowd across the street, a combination of concerned citizens, neighborhood crazies and the usual sullen homeboys and drug dealers, cursing at the police, a woman and two homeless people were standing around a blazing fire in a trash barrel as sparks leaped into the cold air.

SHOUT
Get the fuck out, pig motherfuckers

Ringo looked around to where the shout came from and saw a young boy maybe ten, swaggering off with a group of other young boys. A crime scene had been established that included the entire three flat structures and I told one of the Crime Scene Unit technicians to video tape, photograph and sketch the entire crime scene. Officers were stationed to keep the curious away as teams of detective began canvassing the building and neighborhood. As I retrieved my flashlight from the trunk the clouds erupted and I got soaked to the bone as I jumped over pools of dirty water gathering in the gutter and hurried across the broken sidewalk. Inside the building lobby gang graffiti, smoke and water stains covered the molded wall that reflected their lost and forgotten tenants.

RINGO (CAREFULLY WALKING UP THE BROKEN STAIRS AND TALK TO A YOUNG OFFICER)
Who found the body?

YOUNG OFFICER
The maintenance man, he’s inside being interviewed by one of the detectives

As I passed the uniformed officers and ducked under the bright yellow crime scene tape, I smelled the bitter afterglow of sweat, stale cigarette smoke and the sweet odor of marijuana that I found so disgusting.
When I reached the second floor I noticed an apartment with no door. I stopped and scanned the room with my flashlight and looked inside. A shabby dressed man was under a pile of newspapers spread over the bare floor and there was a glob of shit in a filthy toilet.

RINGO (SHAKING THE MAN)
Wake-up!

After a few hard shakes the man opened blood-shot eyes.

MAN
What the fuck?

RINGO (PULLING THE MAN TO HIS FEET)
How long you been in here?

MAN (RUBBING HIS EYES)
All night

RINGO
Did you see or hear anything unusual?
MAN
Fuck naw, I was pretty fucked-up, I just crashed

I summoned one of the officers who escorted the man from the building. On the third floor a two man forensic team was foraging for clues around the apartment, collecting and bagging items that might be significant. The maintenance man, George Wills was talking with a two detectives. He was short with stooped shoulders and a mat of dirty gray hair. His dark red lips had the signs of a wine drinker and looked to be in his late fifties.

RINGO (TALKING WITH DETECTIVE RODRIQUEZ)
What you got?

DETECTIVE RODRIQUEZ (THE DETECTIVE FLIPPED THROUGH HIS NOTEBOOK)
Mr. Wills stated that he live in the basement and is the janitor, rent collector, maintenance man and security for the building. He further states that he had informed the victim last week that he wanted to exterminate her apartment and she suggested today because she had an early morning class we were just leaving to go to his office

The maintenance man led us into a large well-organized basement apartment/office and gave me Cynthia White’s folder. There was a copy of her pictured Indiana Driver’s license that revealed that she twenty-one and a signed six month lease three months earlier, in the employment box on the lease application she had marked “Student.

RINGO
What kind of young lady was she?

WILLIS
Quiet, good tenant.

RINGO
Boyfriends, friends?


WLLIS
I don’t think she had a steady fellow, but on some Fridays a group of her friends would came over, look like they were studying because they were all carrying books and book bags

RINGO
Thanks, I’ll send someone over to get the folder so we can make copies

I returned to the third floor apartment and entered the small bathroom, the smell of blood and putrefied flesh was overpowering. I watched as some of the younger officers rushed out the room and emptied their stomach in the kitchen sink. I was reading the preliminary report when Doc Dixon, Charley Turner and Evetta Lunden arrived and a few minutes later Patricia Woods arrived. Captain Patricia Woods blond hair was tied in a bun and stuffed under a Chicago Bulls basketball cap. She was shapely but not especially good looking. She was white and the Ist Deputy Superintendent trouble shooter and reporting directly to him. She knew John Ringo only by reputation and had followed some of his cases. She noticed how handsome he was and the air of confidence and strength he generated. Based on what she heard, she was curious about this police officer with a PH, D and worked the most ghastly homicides. He seemed to be respected by the other officers, crime scene people and the EMS personnel. She noticed his easy going matter, shaking hands with some officers, patting shoulders and occasionally sharing a smile, he obviously had charm and charisma. Patricia was smart and knew when to be feminine and when to be tough. Unlike some of the other female police officers who received promotions or good assignments by kissing asses or flirting with the bosses she earned her way by hard work, working harder and working longer hours than her male colleagues, and she never dated other cops. I moved closer to the bathtub and knelt over the blood soaked body. The victim was an attractive dark brown skin woman with short black hair, a supple body and large breast. Her naked body was in the tub a black, knotted pair of panty hose was tied tightly around her neck, her bulging unseeing eyes seemed to be looking directly at me and pleading for me the save her. The trademark X was cut into her torso and smeared in blood on the wall. I felt a tremendous wave of grief flood through me and felt dizzy, my legs went weak, a familiar reaction to an all-too-familiar sight. Charley immediately went to work taking photos and dusting for prints, Dixon donned latex gloves, white evidence suit with foot booties and began examining the body

DIXON (GENTLY FEELING THE VICTIM’S ARMS)
Look likes a semi-advanced state of rigor, I’d estimate she was killed five or six hours ago and there is a bruise on her forehead

Evetta and I carefully walked down the hardwood floor hallway leading from the bathroom. Evetta pointed to what appeared to be scuff marks on the floor. I placed an evidence marker near the marks and we continued walking down the hall. On the right was a small kitchen; there were no dishes in the sink and the floor smelled like it had recently been mopped with Lysol. The front room contained only throw pillows a television, a small table and a CD player it was neat I noticed as we continued down the hallway. The bedroom was to the left of the hallway and contained a queen-sized bed, an opened closet door and a dresser drawer; I carefully opened the three drawers and looked inside.

RINGO
Typical ladies things; perfumes, tampons and the like but no underwear, panties or brassieres

EVETTA (LOOKIG AT THE BED)
Look like she had laid her clothes out on the bed
I’ve got a wallet, stuffed under some women slips
Driver’s license, social security card, a pictured Chicago State Student Identification Card and a Hyde Park Bally Club membership card.

Evetta placed the wallet in an evidence baggie.I noticed that the pillows and the covers on the bed seemed ruffled and there was a small spot of blood and a white stain on the top sheet. The seams in the cheap shag carpet covering the floor also seemed disturbed and had an imprint. I placed evidence markers on the bed and the carpet and we backed out the room. I waived to Turner who joined us in the hallway. Charley Turner, the best crime scene technician I knew, was a big black man, over six-five and 220 pounds of solid muscle. He was a star tight-end at Notre-Dame, until a cheap shot tackle in his senior year blew out his knees.

RINGO
Take pictures of where I’ve placed markers, might be important

Turner did as directed and was exiting the bathroom and pointed to the kitchen. Doctor Dixon was removing his evidence suit when me and Evetta came into kitchen and sat at the kitchen table. Doctor Dixon wore green khaki pants and a heavy black shirt that looked two sizes too large, his white undershirt showed through; I didn’t know anyone still wore undershirts.

RINGO
What’s the verdict?

DIXON
She has a large bruise on the back of her head, look like a blunt instrument which probably knocked her unconscious, death was due to strangulation and it appears the sexual assault was post mortem

RINGO
What do you make of all the victims being posed in the bathtub?

DIXON
You know, once upon a time I attempted to play Sherlock Holmes and was quickly put in my place by a young lieutenant, now all I do collect any evidence during the autopsy that might be helpful and give it over to you guys. But since you are both good friends, I’ll try to answer your question. The killer is performing some sort of sadistic ritual by the way he carefully position the body, he’s satisfying some urge or trying to forget something, shows all the signs of a narcissistic sociopath, a new twist, I don’t think the victim was killed in the bathtub or bathroom and I think she was raped before and after she was killed, The bruises on her neck indicate that maybe the panty hose was used to kill her the knot is nearly as tight as we found on the others.

EVETTA
Could the incision have killed her?

DIXON
Could be, I guess, I’ll know more after we get her on the table

EVETTA
We found some scuff marks on the floor leading to the bathroom and blood and maybe semen in the bedroom and a wallet

Evetta opened the baggie and removed the license from the wallet.

EVETTA
Name Cynthia White, date of birth June 1, 1990, that would make her eighteen. Maybe the killer accosted the victim in the bedroom, she fought and he hit her on the head with something, that could account for the blood, and the bed seemed disturbed, maybe that where he raped her leaving the white stains, maybe semen

TURNER (POINTING TO A LAMP)
I found something, look like blood and hair on its base, I also found a slight print on the lamp

RINGO (HUGGING CHARLEY)
You‘re the best fuckin ‘tech” in the department

CHARLEY (WIDE GRIN)
Aw shuck

I welcomed the cold rain and wind as Evette and I left the building and wished it could wash away the smell of death. I noticed Emile Smiles a police reporter for the Sun-Times and William Hopps from the Chicago Tribune standing behind the police tapes among the drug dealers, a CBS news van was parking. Another young black woman raped and killed was more than news once the word got out reporters, anchor people and news producer would use it as their lead-ins for weeks. We hurried to my car and watched as the techs brought out Cynthia White’s in a body bag.
Esau, wearing all black clothing was in the rear of the crowd and watched as the police officers tried to maintain order. He knew they had found the body of the beautiful young girl on the 3rd floor. He remembered how she had smelled, how she had tried to fight him before he hit her with the lamp, knocking her unconscious long enough for him to undress and tied her spread eagle to the bedpost. He could still see the lust in her eyes when she awaken and felt his hard body on top of her plunging deeper and deeper into her bleeding and swollen vagina. “Are you virgin he asked her,” but she didn’t respond, so he kept plunging deeper and deeper while he placed the silk panty hose around her throat and the deeper he plunged the tighter her pulled the stocking and when he climaxed he pulled it even tighter until she stopped breathing.
He plunged the knife repeatedly into her neck and stomach and, carved an X into her chest. He untied her, pulled her off the bed and drugged her body into the bathroom where he gently propped her up in the tub and smeared an X with her blood on the wall. Before he left he took a Polaroid snapshot of her naked, dead body.

INT-AUTOPSY ROOM
Evetta and I entered the large brightly lit, cold sterile autopsy room and Doctor Dixon waived and beckoned at us. His usually bright and cherry face bore a look of concern, we donned the scrubs, gloves and masks given to us by the doctor and followed him as he went over to Cynthia White’s half-covered body lying on the cold steel table, drainage holes were on the sides and a water hose was attached to the table. On another stainless steel table was an organ scale and trays of surgical instruments, the smell of dead bodies was very intent in the small, confined room. Evetta started to cover her mouth and nose even though we were masked, Doctor Dixon stopped her.

DIXON
There are germs everywhere in the room Evetta, so don’t touches your face with your hands and trying to stop the smell with your hands will only make it worse. In a couple of minutes your senses will go dead and the smell will go away, just take short breaths. I’ve noticed at some of the scenes the officers kept leaving the room to get fresh air and then coming back, the only thing they were doing was giving their sense of smell an opportunity to return

A young black woman maybe, thirty, removed the white sheet that covered the body of Cynthia White and we all looked down at the once ebony colored face now an ash white and disfigured in death. The young woman seemed so out of place in this place. The woman clicked on an overhead light and began taking photographs from different angles, ten minutes later a young white woman began cleaning the body with what smelled like a strong antiseptic, and positioning it on the table. Dixon introduced me and Evetta to Ms. Walker and Mrs. Edelman, his dieners or Anatomical Pathology Technolologist.

DIXON
They will assist me in eviscerating the body and reconstruction after the autopsy

One of the women turned on a bright light and positioned it over the top of the cadaver and the other woman turned on another bright light over the bottom of the body. I had witnessed numerous autopsies but never got use to them; I looked at Evetta and wondered how she would handle her first autopsy.

DIXON
Since this your first autopsy Detective Lunden I will explain the process. As I am sure you are aware, we are required by law to conduct an autopsy in all cases of sudden or violent deaths. The principle aim of an autopsy is to determine the cause of death and the state of health of the person before death and do not require permission or consent of relatives of the deceased. Before the actual autopsy begins an external examination is conducted. The body is removed from a sterile evidence bag and X-rayed and the bag is later examined for evidence and X-rayed. If the body is clothed, the clothing is also examined, if it is believed that there may be evidence on the hands, such as gunpowder or dermal specimen, the hands are placed in a separate bag and taped shut around the wrist. The dieners photograph the body and ultraviolet light is used to search the body surfaces for any evidence not readily visible to the naked eye. The body is then cleaned and washed with an antiseptic; we’ll take hair and nails samples and later depending on the circumstances, radiographic also images may be taken. Once the external evidence is collected, a general description of the body as regards ethnicity, sex, age, hair color, and etc. is dictated into a recorder.

Ms. Walker slid a “body block” under the back of the body, causing the arms and neck to fall backwards stretching and pushing the chest upward. Dixon walked over to the body and removed a pair of latex gloves from his pocket; he rubbed some dusting powder on his hands stretched the rubber gloves and snapped them on. Doctor Dixon pointed to the woman’s chest.

DIXON
In this position the chest is easier to open and provides maximum exposure to the trunk. We are now ready to begin the internal examination where we will examine the internal organs for signs of trauma or other indications of the cause of death. Do you have a weak stomach, detective?
Evetta shook her head as Doctor Dixon removes a scalpel from a table next to the body and positioned the X-ray machine over the body.

DIXON
An X-ray is always taken of the entire body before we start the procedure

After taking the X-ray the doctor made a large and deep Y-incision, starting at the top of each shoulder and running down the front of the chest, meeting at the lower point of the breastbone and extending to the pubic bone and removed the organs, muscles and tissue samples, they were weighted and placed in a black bag and placed back into the cavity.
He next examined Peggy’s genitals.

DIXON
There were signs of sexual abuse; necrophilia, the vagina and the rectum were damaged but no sperm, perhaps he used a condom, and she has never had a child or been pregnant. In all strangulation cases death is caused by an increased hypoxic state in the brain. In manual strangulation cases this approach allows maximum exposure of the neck structure, which I will examine for fingertip bruises that could indicate if the attacker used one hand or both hands, I am also looking for linear fingernail scratches from the assailant or the victim when attempting to remove the attacker hands from the neck and we will check under the victim’s fingernails for any skin evidence. Strangulation can cause reflex cardiac arrest and sustained pressure can cause congestion and blueness of the tongue, pharynx and larynx. In examining the body as you can see there is a little blood coming from the incision, that’s because the pull of gravity is producing the only blood pressure at this point since there is no cardiac functionality. Most of your cases though are ligature strangulations, I used a laser on the neck to look for ligature marks, if none appear evident under normal light and I find hemorrhaging in the muscles of the neck, the hyoid bone and the thyroid and the cricoids cartilages that indicates they were fractured. Notice the subject face, there are signs of cyanosis and petechiae, which indicate the strangulation pressure was applied for more than twenty seconds, ligature marks is a vital part of the evidence, as it often reproduces the patterns and dimensions of the ligature itself, the type of ligature, i.e. rope, soft fabric, etc. If the killer is subsequently arrested and the ligature is recovered on his person or in his home the ligature can be compared with the marks on the victim’s neck.

The doctor placed the scalpel back on the table and removed an electric saw. He switched on an overhead microphone and spoke in a soft voice and said while holding a small saw. “I will use Stryker Saw named after the manufacturer of the tool to pry opens the chest cavity and saw through the ribs on the lateral side of the chest cavity to allow the sternum and attached ribs to be lifted as one chest plate.


DIXON
This is done so that the heart and lungs can be seen in what we call “in situ” or in complete and are not damaged during the opening.

Doctor Dixon carefully and expertly removed the additional internal organs; each was weighed and placed into a container containing a foggy liquid.

DIXON
Well that’s it, my assistants will complete the examination of the organs and reconstruct the body, how you doing detective?

EVETTA (LOOKING PALE)
Ok

DIXON
Let’s go to my office, I’ve got just what you need

Doctor Dixon directed us to two oversized cushioned chairs while he went to an ornate wooden cabinet and removed a bottle of Remy Martin Brandy and three crystal glasses, he placed the glasses on the desk, poured a hefty shot in each.

DIXON
Down the hatch

We all gulped down the strong drink and me and the doctor laughed as Evetta coughed.

RINGO
What was the cause of death?”

DIXON
She died from massive internal bleeding from the multiple stab wounds that severed her aorta and left lung, she was dead before he placed the stocking around her neck, we’ve got the DNA results back on Peggy’s boyfriend, no matches on any of the murders, but we found that Peggy was about eight weeks pregnant and the fetus’s DNA matched her boyfriend.

EVETTA
Shit, Well that’s another charge against that monster

There was a knock at the door and an assistant stuck his head through.

ASSISTANT
Excuse me doctor, but Peggy Smith’s husband in on five-four, he’s calling from Detroit to find out about his wife

DIXON (NODDING)
Excuse me

We listened as he patiently spent twenty minutes explaining what had happened to the man’s wife, but he left out the gory details, he also told the husband that the body could be released in a week. He hung up, took a nail file from the drawer and began cleaning his nails. After a minute of going through the ritual he placed the file back into the drawer and rubbed his thin, narrow face.

DIXON
It’s tough enough telling a relative about a natural death, doubly hard when it’s a murder victim

EVETTA
Nice job, you have


DIXON
Sometimes it sucks

I looked at the little man, who looked so frail, but his eyes had intensity and intelligence and there was tenderness and concern for people and I considered him one of best friends, but I never could understand how so gentle a man could spend hours with dead bodies

EVETTA
If Cynthia White is one of his victim’s maybe we can get a DNA match

DIXON
Hopefully we can get some of his DNA from her, My techs are taking vaginal swaps as we speak

RINGO
Who knows what he’ll do next, if it’s not him we’ve got a serious copycat

TECHNITION (KNOCK ON DOOR AND ENTERS)
We’re ready to close her up doctor and there was sperm

DIXON (LOOKING AT EVETTA)
Want to watch?

EVETTA
No thanks; two hours with a corpse is enough for me
We left usually we would go to lunch, but not today.

INT: SPECIAL CRIMES BUREAU –LATE AFERNOON
When we returned to our office all of the detectives were crowded around the television, Reverend Clarence Wilson was being interviewed by a black female reporter named Irene Maudesa.


IRENE MAUDESA
Reverend Wilson, I understand that members of your congregation is planning on starting a community watch, can you comment please?

The reverend was a tall, heavy set man in his late fifties with brilliant white teeth and his church The First Church of Deliverance located at 43rd South Wabash had a congregation of over two thousand. Speaking in a measured tone common to most Baptist ministers, answered.

REVEREND WILSON
Yes we are, members of my church and other concerned members of the community is outraged over the rapes and murders of our young black women. This cowardly monster don’t have the guts to deal with men, he prefer helpless women

VOICE IN THE CROWD
Street justice is what he needs and if we catch that asshole, won’t need no cops,” someone else shouted

REVEREND WILSON
I believe in the criminal justice system but either the police are incompetent or don’t care, either way it’s time for us, the black community to protect ourselves

IRENE MAUDESA
I also understand that you have had meetings with the mayor and the Chief of Police, what are they saying?


REVEREND WILSON
Same old song and dance that we are doing everything we can

IRENE MAUDESA
Have you met with Lieutenant O’Shea, head of the Special Crimes Bureau?

REVEREND WILSON
I’ve called his office on ten occasions and I’m always told he’s unavailable

We continued to my office when we were called into the lieutenant’s office. Lieutenant O’Shea was looking at the news program when we entered, his face was a bleak red as he paced around his desk.

LIEUTENANT O’SHEA
Who does that black mutherfucker think he is?

RINGO
Why won’t you talk to him?

LIEUTENANT O’SHEA
Fuck him; I ain’t got to explain shit to him

EVETTA
That might not be a good idea, Reverend Wilson has a lot of clout in the community and downtown, matter of fact I hear the chief is a member of his church

The lieutenant sat down and sweat beaded on his forehead.

LIEUTENANT O’SHEA
Where did you hear that?


EVETTA
That’s the word on the street

LIEUTENANT O’SHEA
Listen I want you two to go see him and assure we’re doing the best we can, ok? Now bring me up to date, find out anything at the M.E.’s office?

EVETTA
Well we found sperm in Cynthia White indicating she may have been raped just like the others, but we have to check that out, maybe we can get some DNA from that. Also Robin Honeywell was pregnant

LIEUTENANT O’SHEA
Shit, what we know about Robin?

EVETTA
Robin’s boyfriend alibi is solid, he worked a double the night she was killed and he and some other co-workers went to a promotion party at a private club and was there until 0900 Sunday, and his DNA matched the fetus. Our legs checked out her ex-husband in Detroit, he and his children were visiting his mother in Cleveland and hadn’t talked or seen his ex in months, but he also said that she liked to walk around the house naked and he had warned her about that,” Evetta said.

LIEUTENANT O’SHEA
Who was the father of the baby, the husband or the boyfriend?


RINGO
According to the DNA report, the boyfriend was.

LIEUTENANT O’SHEA (PULLING A FILE FROM HIS DRAWER)
I got a call from the FBI today and we told me that VICAP identified a February, 2000 victim in Gary who matches our guy’s profile, a young black whore named Rita Maxwell was found raped, strangled, and propped up in the bathtub, a large bloody X was smeared on the wall and there is another unsolved rape and homicide in Gary that same year of a high school girl

EVETTA
Where was she found?

LIEUTENANT O’SHEA
In an abandon warehouse, a bloody X was on the wall

RINGO
This guy has been busy

O'Shea opened another file on his desk

LIEUTENANT O’SHEA
Peggy Smith was twenty-five, lived at 4555 South King Drive, 2nd floor and worked at a bookstore on 51st Street. Mariah Williams, twenty-three, lived at 4920 South Calumet Avenue IST floor and worked as a barmaid at a Westside joint. Tonya James, twenty-four worked as a teacher’s aide at Willard Elementary School lived at 4635 South Wabash Avenue IST floor. Tonya James twenty- four lived at 4220 South King Drive, Its floor, and Cynthia white, eighteen, lived at 4650 South Calumet Avenue 3rd floor, and a freshman student at Chicago State University. Possible victims, Rita Maxwell a black whore in Gary, Indiana and a young Gary high school girl named Mary both raped and killed in 1999. Also I got a report from Dixon's officer and the bloody X on the mirrors in all of the Vics bathrooms contained two different blood types and are being analysis for possible DNA and just got a report of an attempt rape, vic, Louise Johnson. Louise Johnson, the oldest attempted victim at twenty-six lived alone in a house at 4916 South Forrestville Avenue and was the owner of the Black Ladies Boutique on 47th Street, could be X-Man, check it out.

LIEUTENANT O’SHEA
We’ve got to catch this asshole and quick, I don’t want this investigation ran on the front pages of the Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times. Get back to work.

We left and got in the car
RINGO
Let’s take a ride to Louise Johnson place

EVETTA
On the way

Evetta removed a folder from her briefcase and gave it to me

RINGO
Louise Johnson, twenty-five, single, owns the successful Black Ladies Boutique on east 47th Street, MBA from Indiana University, mother, college professor at Westwood University in River Oaks, father deceased. Next door neighbor heard noises coming from Louise garage and when he went to investigate he observed Louise lying on the floor struggling with a little man on top of her holding a large knife, her shorts and sweat shirt was on the floor and he noticed the man wearing a condom. A pair of panty hose was tied around her neck and a rag stuffed into her mouth. He yelled at the man and as he approached the man threaten him with the knife and ran out the garage and jump over the rear fence

The block contained well-kept single-family homes. Louise house was brown brick with white trimming and was well hidden by tall oak pine trees and dense landscape, the nearest house was twenty-feet away. A decorative steel fence with a latched gate sat as a sentinel in front of the back yard, Evetta ranged the front doorbell and it was answered by an attractive, well-built woman. Evetta showed the woman her identification.

EVETTA
Hi I’m Detective Lunden and this Sergeant Ringo from the Chicago Police Department we’ll like to talk to you about the incident the other evening

LOUISE
Please come in

Louise led them into a large front room and motioned them to sit.

RINGO
What happened?


LOUISE
Well, I left Bally’s Health Club about 4:00pm and drove to my shop on 47th Street. After closing the shop I came home, did a little puttering around the house and went to the garage. I didn’t hear anyone come in and suddenly the lights went out and I was knocked unconscious. After a while, I don’t know how long, I awaken and this man was raping me, I tried to get him off me but he was too strong and he put a big knife at my throat and told me to shut up or he would cut my throat. He then put a filthy rag in my mouth and tied a pair of pantyhose around my neck and began choking me. I had nearly passed out when I heard someone come into the garage. The man got off me and I saw him run out the garage when I came to my senses I recognized George Peppers my next door neighbor who drove me to Provident Hospital. The police brought me home, took a report and processed the garage for evidence

EVETTA
Did you get a look at him

LOUISE
I really didn’t get a good look at him, but I could tell he was a small man, but strong, but I keep getting this impression that I’ve seen him somewhere


EVETTA
Let us know if you think of anything, no matter how small. In the meantime we’ll check with the hospital for additional information and is it ok to check out the garage

LOUISE
No problem

EXT: BACK YARD
The large back yard lawn was well kept and manicured and I noticed a security camera on a post aimed at the building. We passed an expensive-looking covered propane barbecue cooker as we rounded the corner. A wheeled wooded cart sat next to the cooker that contained tongs and other grilling items, we continued to the one car-garage, a garden hose was neatly wrapped around a hose holder attached to the garage wall. I looked around the yard, pots of colorful flowers lined the redwood deck and along the edges of the yard were planted flowers and a circular bird feeder hung from a tree branch. I glanced through a basement window into a room that contained a pool table, a large plasma television and other furniture. A security camera hung o top of the garage.

EVETTA
Anything on the security camera?

LOUISE
I doubt it, it’s not working

We entered the garage, a tool holder containing various tools rested in a corner. A BMW took up most of the floor space and a ten-speed bicycle hung on two brackets on a wall. A set of weights was in a box on a worktable and a Bally flyer. On the dusty cement of the concrete floor, amid countless faint impressions left by shoes, I spotted the outline of a small shoe print and a large X drew in the dust.

RINGO
Call Turner and tell him to get over here right away and tell him that we’ve got something

A half-hour later Charley Turner arrived and made impressions of the shoe print and the X.

TURNER
Seems the same size of the impression we found in White’s bedroom, a little man, I’d say about five feet, wait a second!

We watched as Turner removed some debris that covered a condom. He carefully held the condom by the rim and looked inside

TURNER
Look like sperm

RINGO
Great get it to the lab, maybe we can get some DNA, let’s see if we can get a comparison.

We walked across the alley a man was placing garbage into the can

EVETTA
Mr. Pepper?

MR. PEPPER
Yes?

George Pepper was fifty-five years old and a big man well over six feet, we identified ourselves.

EVETTA What happened with Mrs. Johnson?
MR. PEPPER
My garage is directly across the alley from Mrs. Johnson and I usually watch out for her when she comes home. Well, the night of the incident I was cleaning out some of the junk in my garage when I saw this little guy in her yard, he didn’t look like her type and he seemed to be sneaking around. I saw the garage light go on and I heard Mrs. Johnson humming some song, well anyway, shortly thereafter the lights went out and I heard what sounded like a struggle coming from the garage, I got a tire iron and went to investigate and I saw this little asshole raping Mrs. Johnson and had something tied around her neck, when he saw me he jumped off her and waived a big knife at me, but before I could crack him with the iron and he ran out hard dick and all. I helped Mrs. Johnson to her feet and took her to the hospital

EVETTA (TAKING NOTES)
Did you get a good look at him?

MR.PEPPER
Sure did, he was a little fuck, I don’t think he was five feet tall, light brown skin but well built, like someone who works out

RINGO
Think you could identify him again

MR. PEPPER
I’m pretty sure I can


RINGO
You’ve been a great help, Mr. Pepper, I’ll have a detective take you to our office and hopefully you can pick this pervert out

As we were heading to their car an excited Louise ran from her house

LOUISE
I remembered where I saw him; he’s a member of the health club

INT: BALLY HEALTH CLUB

When we arrived at the Bally Health Club an attractive black female receptionist greeted us as we approached her desk, her name tag read Julie. She was wearing a white see-through and a low-cut blouse that showed her black athletic bra.

JULIE
Hello there, here for a workout?

EVETTA (FLASHED HER BADGE)
Not today, but I’ve got a question for you, can you check your records and see if a Louise Johnson and a Cynthia White is one of your member?

JULIE (SHE TURNED TO HER COMPUTER)
Sure, one moment. Here she is, Louise Johnson, joined the club in 2007, White joined in February this year

EVETTA
Can you tell us the last time they were here?


JULIE (TYPING)
White two weeks ago, Johnson two days ago

RINGO ( SHOWING THE RECEPTIONIST PHOTOGRAPHS OF LOUISE AND CYNTHIA)
Is this them?

JULIE (LOOKING AT THE PHOTOS)
Yep, that’s them

EVETTA (PUT HER ARMS UNDERMINE AS WE WALKED TO THE WEIGHT ROOM)
Thanks,

EVETTA (CONT)
Not your type

RINGO (SMILING)
Yes, ma’am

Lee, the personal trainer was sitting on a workout bench sipping water from a bottle. She smiled and rose when she saw me and Evetta.

RINGO
I didn’t know you worked out here

LEE
Yeah, I split my time between the one in River Oaks and here. Guess you’re not her for a workout

RINGO (SHOWING HER THE PHOTOGRAPH OF LOUISE AND PEGGY)
Not today Lee, got a question for you, do you know these woman?


LEE (LOOKING AT THE PICTURES)
Yes, that’s Louise; I worked her out a couple of times, I’ve see the other one but I don’t know her she was in the aerobic class

EVETTA
What kind of person is Louise?

LEE
Kind of bossy, but very intense. She an adrenaline addict and she pushed her body to the limits

RINGO
Did she associate with anyone in here?

LEE
A couple of times I saw her in the Health Bar with a good looking little guy, I don’t know his name

EVETTA
What about White, ever see her with anyone?

LEE (LEE THOUGH FOR A MOMENT)
No not really. There is a lot of predators in these clubs trying to get over, they think they are real ladies man, real smooth and got a line of bullshit from here to Gary Milwaukee

EVETTA
They ever try the bullshit on you?

LEE (WINKING AT RINGO)
Hell yes, they try but only once, I like real men, like the Ringo, not boy toys


RINGO
You’re going to make me blush

EVETTA
Go on, you look cute when you blush

RINGO
Thanks Lee, see you later

We returned to the receptionist and I turned on the charm.

RINGO (FLASHING AN ENORMOUS SMILE)
One last request
The receptionist rose from her seat, revealing well-muscled legs and a shapely body.

JULIE (SMILING AND IGNORING EVETTA.)
Anything for you detective

RINGO (STILL FLASHING A BIG SMILE)
Do you know if a little guy, maybe five feet or so is a member of the center?

The receptionist bent over her computer displaying a well-rounded ass. Evetta looked at me and shook her head.

JULIE
Yeah, there a short little guy who is a regular and flirty, he’s always sniffing behind some woman real strange, he always looks like he high off something.”


EVETTA
Got an address and phone number


JULIE (IGNORING EVETTA AND TYPING ON THE COMPUTER)
Yep, Esau Sneed, 5251 South King Drive, no phone

EVETTA
How often is he here?

JULIE (ADJUSTING HER LOW CUT TOP)
Two or three times a week, work out in the weight room generally

RINGO (LEANING ACROSS THE DESK AND LOOKING DOWN JULIE’S LOW CUT BLOUSE)
Here’s my card it got my cell and home number, give me a call the next time he’s here and maybe we can have dinner sometime

JULIE (SMILING JULIE SLOWLY SLID THE CARD IN HER BRA)
Sounds like a winner to me, I certainly will call and take you up on that dinner

As we were walking away Evetta looked at me, rolled her eyes.

EVETTA
You’re the biggest bullshiter I know

RINGO (SMILING)
I learned from the best

QUADRANGLE HOUSE -2 October 2008

The doorman ranged my apartment and announced that a Monique Brown had arrived; I was at my apartment door and watched as she walked from the elevator. She carried a large bag, but still had the grace of an African princess. She wore a white pleaded skirt and a green pleated blouse, gold earrings danced from her lobes.

MONIQUE
Dinner time, I’m counting on the fact that you have probably not had a good, old-fashioned, soul food meal in a while

RINGO
Good guess

MONIQUE (POINTING TO A BAG)
Show me the kitchen and get out the way and
get a bottle of the Chianti out and let it breathe

I did as ordered and sat down on the kitchen island chair and watched her as she unpacked the bag. A sudden cool breeze blew through the slightly opened window and captured the scent of her perfume.

RINGO
Like Miles?

MONIQUE
Heck yeah, got “Porgy and Bess?

I put the CD on and watched as Monique began placing microwave food containers on the island counter and removing lids.

MONIQUE
Smothered chicken and gravy, steamed rice and vegetables, removing another lid she said, home made buttermilk biscuits

RINGO (HANDING HER A GLASS OF WINE)
This is a treat. A toast to home cooking and the chef
Monique slowly sipped the wine, humming her approval.

MONIQUE
I know white wine is supposed to go with fish and chicken, but the gravy makes the meal unique, so the red is fine

I got the silverware and plates out the cabinet and sat them on the island as Monique placed the containers in the microwave and swayed to Miles version of “Summertime.” She took another sip of wine and retrieved two scented candles from her bag, melted the ends and placed them in candle holders. The microwaves timer went off and she removed the containers. I topped off our wine glasses and we stared each other through the light of the flickering candles.

MONIQUE
Dinner is almost ready, ready to eat?

RINGO
Hm, something is smellin’ real good

Monique placed heaping amounts of food into our plates and sat.
After dinner I cleared the table and we went into the living room and I positioned some large soft pillows next to the large window as Monique brought in the candles, we stood and looked out the window, the weather was warm and the bright moon caste an eerie glow on the dark waters of the lake. Muted voices could be heard drifting up from the sidewalk and a sailboat could be seen in the distance and Piper rubbed against Monique’s legs.

MONIQUE
How you doing John?

RINGO
Ok, but this X-Man thing is starting to get to me. We know for sure he’s responsible for at least five young women in the prime of life cut down by a damn maniac

MONIQUE
I’m concerned about you. Lieutenant O’Shea is struttin’’ around like a chicken with its head cut off and getting on everyone’s nerves and blaming you for not catching this monster. In my profession we seek reasons for a person’s actions, the why-fors for their behavior, we need completion just as police officers do and too many incompletes in one’s life and the stress and tensions can become too much to bear

RINGO
That’s why so many cops gets divorced and commit suicide. I’ve isolated myself, being a cop is all I ever wanted to be, but being a cop consumes you, entirely, slowly but surely. It had taken everything out of my life, when I found out that my ex-wife was having an affair, I was devastated and angry, and I kept asking myself why. When I confronted her she told me that I was married to the job not her, and when I think about it, she was right. The long hours, the coldness and aloofness that comes with being a police officer must be hard on any relationship; I am beginning to resent all that being a cop have taken from me

I took another sip of wine and suddenly felt pleasantly light head. I sat on a pillow and Monique joined me.

RINGO (CONT)
What about you, how did you get involved in police work?

MONIQUE
After graduating from the University of South Carolina I opened a clinic in my home town and most of my patients were neurotic, old white women and court referrals. One of these referrals was an eighteen-year-old black girl name Jean. Jean was abandon when she was three and was placed in a foster home when she was five. Her foster parents worked and she was left in the care of the foster mother father who was in his late seventies. From the time she was five until she was thirteen he sexually molested her. At first he made her give him blowjobs while he fondled her and masturbated, as she got older it was intercourse. As strange as it seems for her to get pregnant by such an old man, she did when she was fourteen. When she told the foster parents who the father was, of course they didn’t believe her and the foster mother aborted the baby, herself. After that, the girl became insolent and hard to handle; she started staying out and was gang raped by a group of young boys when she was fifteen. Finally, the foster parents went to court and she was sent to an orphanage where two elderly attendants raped her. When I got her she was all screwed up and angry, and I believe she was schizophrenic. I considered recommending she be institutionalized, but I thought I could help her, big mistake. She attended counseling for about two years and then she stopped coming. About a year later she entered a nursing home and killed three old men and was subsequently killed by the police. I felt guilty, I made a mistake that caused the life of four people, and she should have been institutionalized

RINGO
There was no way for you to know what she was going to do

MONIQUE
But I am a professional, I should have seen the signs, but I didn’t. After that I started researching how police departments dealt with people with mental problems, and to my surprise most of them didn’t. Their answer to dealing with a mentally handicapped person who was violent was a bullet in the brain or a jail cell

Monique took another sip of wine and Ringo noticed the tears. He cupped her in his hands and kissed away the tears. After his divorce Ringo had always thought that nothing or no one could touch him emotionally many things didn’t, but Monique felt so precious to him that he never wanted to lose her. The lights were low and the CD player changed to Miles Davis’s Sketches of Spain. Monique lay back on the over sized pillows and pulled me on top of her. She started unbuttoning my pants as I unbuttoned her blouse. She wiggled out the blouse and exposed her small breast, I moved down her body, kissing her stomach and thighs. She removed my pants and I raised her skirt and pulled down her panties. I felt her body become rigid and arc beneath me and could feel her stomach muscles tense and ripple as I entered her. Her moans merged with the size of the waves on the beach as we collided with the rocky shore. I kissed her lips as I trusted deeper; Monique rolled me over on my back and straddle me making my erect penis go deeper. She moved steadily above me and kissed me hotly. My tongue found her erect nipples and I gently sucked them. The timing of our exhilaration and efforts increased and I encouraged her to join me in my release as I lifted and dropped her heavily upon me. I begged for her release and suddenly her ripping contortions directed my senses to the depths of her being. Feeling her heat I released into her and she cried out softly and held me tightly, we both moaned in total ecstasy as we climaxed together, then we were both still.
I kissed her lips as I withdrew and she rolled off and lay beside me. One of her legs flung sideways across my chest as we listened to the sounds of our breathing even out and the haunting melody of Miles. The scent of sex lingered, but the breeze through the window was chasing it from the room, the currents of cool air felt good as she rubbed my naked chest and stomach. Perspiration dropped from my body onto hers and I kissed it off as it disappeared along her neck and breast.

MONIQUE
John I like you a lot, but let’s take it slow Ok

RINGO
Ok, I said as I felt the rising again in my loins.

We made love again and when I awoke, she was gone.


The little man had watched Reverend Wilson interview and was incensed.

ESAU (SCREAMING AT THE TELEVION)
Who the hell he thinks he is calling me a monster and a coward, I’ll show them who’s a fuckin coward

INT:- First Church of Deliverance- 26 September 2008
Mariah Woodberry was quietly laying down in the pew on the far north side of First Church of Deliverance her head in her arms, she was tired and needed sleep but she was there waiting for Reverend Wilson, he had urged her to come so he could help her and her five children find a place to stay. Fortunately, he had arranged for the children to stay, at lease for the night, with a single female member of the church. She was glad that he told her to meet him after he finished his rounds in the senior building she didn‘t want anyone to see her. Esau Sneed had the cab driver drop him in front of the First Church of Deliverance. The church occupied the entire west side of the street, attached on the north was a day care center and to the south a three flat senior citizen building. A sign on the well manicured front lawn read, “OUR DOORS ARE ALWAYS OPEN” and a large parking took up the entire east side of the street. Esau entered and noticed three people, one man was dosing and another man was deep in meditation. Mariah watched as the little man entered and sat beside an old woman who was praying. There was utter silence in the large church and she saw the old woman close her bible and heard her say “Amen.”

OLD WOMAN
Welcome brother, can we pray together?

Mariah watched as the woman handed the man a gold trimmed bible and touching his hand.

ESAU
Yes, I would like that

Mariah sat in total silence and watched as they both lowered their heads as she read a scripture, in a few minutes she stopped and patted Esau hand again.

OLD WOMAN
Are you new to our church?

ESAU
Yes, I’m new to the city and I am looking for a good church

OLD WOMAN
Well, you’ve found one

ESAU
Who’s the pastor?

OLD WOMAN
A wonderful man, a true man of God, his name is Reverend Wilson


ESAU
Is he here now?

OLD WOMAN
No, he’s generally administering to the seniors until nine, and then he comes in for nightly prayer


Esau checked his watch, it was eight -forty five.

OLD WOMAN (GETTING UP)
I’ve got to go, hope I see you for Sunday Services

Deep dark shadows covered Mariah as she watched the praying man and the woman leave the church, the dozing man was snoring loudly. She watched Esau quietly got out his seat and walk over to the man who smelled of cheap wine and unwashed body. She didn’t see the man open his bloodshot eyes and give Esau a lopsided grin and closed his eyes again, but she did see Esau pop open a switchblade knife and slowly cut the man’s throat and returned to his seat. Mariah held back a scream and slouched further down in the pew as a patch of moonlight came through the tall stain-glass window. She wanted to run out, to get away but she didn’t move and tried to silence the beating in her chest. She heard the outer door of the church open and she turned to see Reverend Wilson enter, smiled at the little man and briefly looked at the dead man whom he thought was asleep as he walked to the pulpit. Mariah slid further down in the pew and watch the little man get up, paused, and looked to his right and left before walking to where the reverend was standing. Again silence and dark shadow covered her and she was a part of them, she felt a cool breeze and pulled her tattered coat tighter and listened.

REVEREND WILSON
Welcome, my son, are you ready to be saved?

She watched the little man smile, lower his head, nod and say “Yes I am, but could I use your facilities”
REVEREND WILSON
But, of course, my son follows me

She watched as Esau followed the reverend down a dimly lit, cavernous corridor, she wanted to warn the reverend and on her hands and knees she quietly crept out the safety of the pew and looked down the hall. When they reached the bathroom she watched in horror as Esau struck the reverend hard on the head knocking him to the floor, when the reverend opened his eyes, Esau struck him again. Esau straddled the unconscious man and stabbed him repeatedly carved a large X into his chest and smeared an X on the bathroom door. Mariah returned quickly to the pew and watched as the little man passed the dead man in the pew and carved an X into his chest and left the church. “Fuckin’ coward, huh,” she heard him say as he walked out into the night. Mariah waited and looked at the crucifix behind the pulpit, she felt a moment of shame and fear, the air seemed to shift but the silence was absolute. Mariah don’t know how long she waited but eventually she slowly rose from the pew and looked around the darken church. “Was he gone, where is the reverend?” she asked herself. Keeping low she crawled on her hands and knees down the dim hallway and suddenly bumped into the reverend the top half of his body in the bathroom the other half in the hallway. She covered her mouth and saw the surprised look on his face his no-seeing eyes looking up at the Cross. I was playing chess on the computer when Lieutenants O’Shea called, his voice trembled as he said, “That black minister has been killed in his church, can you believe that,” he shouted over the phone.

RINGO
Calm down Lieu, who are you talking about?

O’SHEA (SCREAMING)
That Reverend Wilson, get your ass down there, now, your partner is on the way

At eleven-thirty I arrived at the church, the police had blocked all traffic between 43rd and 44th South Prairie Avenue and blue mars lights on the police cars and red mars lights on the emergency vehicles cast an eerie glow on the street. I heard the wail of an emergency vehicle and the roar of police sirens filled the cool night air. As I walked to the church I noticed a large crowd had gathered outside and the news trucks were setting up. Irene Maudesa was being prepped by the makeup artist as she smoothed her dark blue pantsuit. Shortly, Evetta was on the scene with Doctor Dixon. A uniform sergeant and a young police officer were standing at the door.

RINGO
Hi Sarge, I’m Sergeant Ringo and this is my partner, Evetta from the Special Crimes Bureau and Doctor Dixon from the M.E. office, what we got?

SERGEANT (NODDING AT THE POLICE OFFICER)
Officer Brady?

BRADY
I Responded to a call of a man stabbed in the church, when I arrived I was met by an elder woman named Roberta Shacks who told me that when she went into the church at about ten fifteen to pray she saw a man sitting with his head down in the pew, at first she though he was praying and she sat in the pew opposite him but then she saw blood on the floor coming from his pew she went to see if he was alright, that when she saw he had been stabbed, she ran outside and call 911. I met Mrs. Shacks on the steps of the church, entered and she showed me the man in the pew, I immediately called for an ambulance, backup and the sergeant. Mrs. Shacks told me that Reverend Wilson often worked late in his office in the rear of the church and she accompanied me to the rear and that’s where I found the reverend in the bathroom. I secured the scene and waited for the sergeant, Mrs. Shacks also said that as she entered the church a woman ran passed her covered with blood and seemed hysterical. Mrs. Shacks said she felt sick and had to leave but I got her address and phone number

RINGO
Thanks officer, make sure you send me a copy of your case report

We ducked under the yellow police tape and entered the church and walked to the pew where a man was seated head down like he was praying. Crime scene technicians were taking pictures and dusting for prints, we walked down the hall to the washroom; Reverend Wilson was laying face down on the cold floor. The sergeant and the officer joined the other police officers trying to control the crowd in front of the church. Suddenly, Lieutenant O’Shea burst through the door accompanied by two of his lackeys.

O’SHEA
What the fuck we got, sergeant?

I told the lieutenant what I knew and he looked at the dead man in the pew.

O’SHEA
Shit, damn

EVETTA
Want to see the reverend?

O’SHEA
Hell no, he said turning on his heels and walking out

DIXON
Some leader

I watched as the lieutenant and his flunkies ducked under the tape and were immediately confronted by Irene.

IRENE
Lieutenant O‘Shea, what’s happened in there?

The lieutenant without breaking stride gave her an icy look and said, “No comment,” and ducked inside his car and drove off

EVETTA
It’s him!

RINGO
Yep, well let‘s go home and get a good nice rest, tomorrow is going to be a motherfucker

Evetta picked me up at seven thirty in the morning and as usual she had a cup of Dunkin’ Donuts coffee and a copy of the Chicago Sun-Times Newspaper was laying on the seat, in bold type the front page headlines read, “REVEREND CLARENCE WILSON MURDERED IN HIS CHURCH BY THE X-MAN.”

RINGO (SIPPINGED THE SCALING HOT COFFEE)
It’s going to be a long day

EVETTA (READING FROM THE POLICE REPORT)
Roberta Starks, female black born 1984, address 4125 South Wabash, third floor

RINGO
Let’s go talk to her

EVETTA
On the way

4125 South Wabash was an old building nestled between other old and abandon buildings. Evetta took the lead as I hobbled behind on my cane, when we reached the second floor I stopped and rubbed my leg.


EVETTA
You ok?

RINGO
Yeah, sometimes this leg hangs up, I’m ok

We finally reached the third floor and Evetta knocked on the door while I braced myself against the wall, on the second knock the door was partly opened secured by a safety chain.

EVETTA (SHOWING HER IDENTIFICATION)
Roberta Starks

STARKS
Yes

EVETTA
Mrs. Starks I’m Detective Lunden and this is my partner Sergeant Ringo, may we come in?

The door closed and in a moment it opened

STARKS
Please come in officers

Mrs. Starks reiterated what Officer Brady said but she also said, “I had been in the church earlier and met a nice very attractive young man who stated that he was new to the city and was looking for a good church, we talked and prayed together and I left, he said he wanted to wait and meet the minister

RINGO
What did he look like?


STARKS
He was a small man, maybe in his late twenties or earlier thirties, very attractive, black curly hair, a beautiful coffee colored complexion, sharp facial features and a high pitched voice

EVETTA
Do you think you would recognize him again?

STARKS
I’m sure I could

Evetta left her business card and we left for the office. When we arrived we were met by a cadre of reporters camped out in the small parking lot.
As we got out the vehicle reporters and camera men, assaulted us.

REPORTERS( SCREAMING)
Is it the work of the X-Man? “What is the department doing to catch this killer?

Evetta and I continued walking my only comment was, “No comment.”
When we entered the building we were met by the lieutenant.

O’SHEA(NERVOUS)
The Ist Deputy is in my office waiting on you two, what you got?

RINGO (Walking pass the lieutenant)
Nothing

The lieutenant didn’t say anything, just stood there his face a bleak red and his mouth opened. The Ist Deputy Superintendent really run the police department, he approves all promotions, transfers and the day to day operations. Ist Deputy Superintendent Dennis Gult was a thirty year veteran and had grown up in Chicago’s Ida B. Wells Projects. He had been a standout point guard at DuSable High School and Indiana University and played two years with the Chicago Bulls but suffered a career ending knee injury. When he was promoted to sergeant he was assigned to the Gang Unit and arrested many leading gang members. When promoted to lieutenant he was assigned to the Homicide Division for two years before being promoted to captain where he was the Commanding Officer of the Vice Control Division. When Horace Williamson, a black man was elected as mayor he appointed Gult to Ist Deputy. The Chief of Police, Robert Riordan was well connected to the old Irish regime and couldn’t be replaced by the mayor but the rumor was he was retiring at the end of the year and the odds on favorite was that Gult would be the next chief. Gult was impressive, his two hundred and ten pounds was spread over a six foot six frame and his jet black skins was accentuated by an all white full beard and mingled grey hair. Gult was seated in a chair in O’Shea office his assistant Captain Patricia Woods was seated next to him. When Evetta and I entered Gult rose and shook my hand vigorously.

GULT
Long time Sarge, how you been?

RINGO
Going along, sir, going along

O’Shea sat behind his desk, his face, if possible was redder.

CAPTAIN WOODS
What we got on the latest murder, lieutenant?

O’SHEA (SURPRISED)
Not much, better ask the sergeant, he’s in charge of the case
The captain gave the lieutenant a disgusted look and turned to me, “Sergeant?”

RINGO
Well the murder of the reverend and the other man is a departure from his MO, most of his victims were young black women but the X carved in the reverend chest and the blood smeared in the bathroom is definitely his MO, but this is the first time he has killed males something changed and I haven‘t figured it out yet, but maybe there was a witness. The woman who found the bodies and called the police said that when she entered the church another woman ran passed her covered with blood.

O’SHEA
Do you know who the woman was?

EVETTA
No, but we are working on finding her

O’SHEA
Get on it right away

EVETTA
Lieutenant, do you have that tape of the reverends press conference?

O’SHEA (CONFUSED)
I think so, why?

EVETTA
Can we see it?

O’SHEA
What the fuck, the tape of that bla… Reverend got to do with anything?

GULT
Put on the tape

The lieutenant fumbled around in his desk and put the tape into the recorder. When the tape got to where the reverend called the killer a coward and only attacked women.

EVETTA
Pause it, there the reason he killed the reverend, he pissed him off and the other poor bastard was just in the wrong place at the wrong time

O’SHEA
How do you know that?

WOODS
You got any other motives?

The lieutenant lowered his head and mumbled something.

GULT
What’s happening with the women victims?

RINGO
We found semen in a condom in one of the victim’s garage and we found semen stains at another crime scene but when we entered it into the DNA database, nothing, that leads me to believe our killer has never been arrested, hopefully when we get a suspect we can make a comparison and all of them were assaulted on the tenth of the month, haven’t figured that one out yet.

GULT
Keep working it, John and Captain Woods will be my liaison

RINGO
Will do sir

O’SHEA
Keep me in the loop too sergeant

I didn’t respond to the lieutenant as Evetta and I left and returned to my office. One of the secretaries gave me a registered letter.

SECRETARY
Came in the morning mail, there were no return receipt requested or return address and was posted this morning

I carefully opened the envelope and removed the letter, it read, “SERGEANT JOHN RINGO I SAW YOU ON THE NEWS THE OTHER DAY CONCERNING THE MURDER OF REVEREND WILSON AND THAT OTHER MAN. I WAS IN THE CHURCH WHEN IT HAPPENED AND I SAW THIS LITTLE MAN TALKING WITH A WOMAN IN A PEW, AFTER THE WOMAN LEFT I SAW THE MAN KILL THE MAN SLEEPING IN THE PEW. WHEN THE REVEREND CAME IN I HEARD THE MAN ASK TO USE THE WASHROOM AND HE FOLLOWED THE REVEREND DOWN THE HALL. I SAW THE MAN STRIKE THE REVEREND IN THE HEAD AND STAB HIM. A FEW MINUTES LATER I WATCHED AS THE MAN LEFT THE HALL, STOP AT THE MAN HE HAD KILLED AND CARVE AN X IN HIS CHEST. AFTER HE LEFT I CRAWLED DOWN THE HALL AND FOUND THE REVEREND. I FEEL LIKE SUCH A COWARD I KNOW I SHOULD HAVE WARNED THE REVEREND, BUT I WAS SO SCARED, PLEASE CATCH THIS MONSTER.

I called Evetta and Charley Turner into the office and showed them the letter, Charley said, “I’ll check for prints, hopefully we’ll get lucky.”

INT: AMOUD RESTAURANT- 10 October 2008

It was a Saturday night; Esau sat alone in a rear booth at Amoud Restaurant a dingy Arab Restaurant located at 43rd South Wabash Avenue. The diner was empty except for a young black woman, maybe twenty sipping a cup of tea as an elderly couple were leaving, and Esau noticed the young woman was crying. The little man glanced at her and she looked at him and he smiled. Esau pretended to sip his coffee but out the corner of his eye he watched her. She had long shapely legs for such a small body and an unusually pretty face. He saw her take a small napkin from her purse and wipe her eyes. He waited until she ordered another cup of tea and started searching for another napkin when he approached her table.

ESAU (HANDING HER A NAPKIN)
You ok, what’s the problem?

YOUNG WOMAN (DAPPING AT HER EYES WITH THE CRUMPLED TISSUE)
Just life problems

ESAU
Need a friend

YOUNG WOMAN
I sure do

ESAU ( HE SAID HOLDING OUT HIS HAND).
My name is Carl Ellison

YOUNG WOMAN (SHAKING ESAU’S HAND)
I’m Gloria Stevens, nice meeting you Carl

ESAU
What’s wrong?

GLORIA (TEARING UP)
I’ve just found out my asshole boyfriend of three years is seeing someone else and the bitch is pregnant and on top of that I just got laid off my job, and the rent is due next week, and I don’t have it.

ESAU
Your boyfriend must be crazy fuckin’ around on a good looking girl like you

GLORIA (WIPING HER EYES).
I went to church earlier and prayed for some help.


ESAU
Maybe your prayers have been answered

The woman looked at the little man who was shorter than she was but he wasn’t bad looking and seemed nice.

GLORIA
I hope so she said lowering her eyes

ESAU (SMILING)
I told you maybe your prayers were answered he said placing a hundred-dollar bill in her hand.

GLORIA (LOOKING AT THE MONEY)
I can’t take this

Gloria attempt to hand the money back to Esau and put on her coat and heads to the door, Esau follows and holds open the door.

ESAU
Can I walk you home, and it’s not safe for an attractive young lady to be out this time of night alone?

GLORIA (NODDING)
I live just down the street at 4410 South King

It had just started drizzling when they left the restaurant and walked hurriedly towards her apartment building, they walked east on 43rd Street, passed Michigan, Indiana and Prairie Avenue. As they walked under the CTA elevator station between Prairie and Calumet Avenue, in the recesses of the dark alley one of Bulls drug dealers Moe was at work. He had just completed making a sell of crack when he noticed the couple approaching the alley. Moe recognized Esau as the man he saw climb into the window on 45th Street. Moe walks out of the alley. The little man looked at Moe as Moe raised one finger; an invitation to buy some drugs the man shook his head as they passed. Moe watched as Esau and Gloria continued east and entered her apartment building but he was summoned back into the alley by another customer. Esau followed the young woman up the rickety stairs to the second floor, she stopped and inserted the key into apartment 2B; apartment 2A was to their right.

ESAU (POINTING TO APARTMENT 2A)
Are your neighbors nice?

GLORIA
That apartment been vacant for two months

ESAU (SMILING)
God sent me to you and all I want from you is to use your bathroom, I got a weak bladder and coffee goes right through me

The woman looked again at the little man and though about the money, she could pay her rent and have a little left. The man smiled and nodded as Gloria opened the door.

GLORIA
Sure, come on in the bathroom is down the hall. It’s not much, but its home care for some tea?

ESAU
Yes, thank you

Esau looked around the small two-room apartment, an old worn two-drawer dresser was next to a neatly made cot that was in one corner, a small television sat on two milk crates in another corner and a small card table chair sat in front of the television. Esau walked down the hall, past the bathroom and into the kitchen where Gloria woman was putting water in a teakettle. When she turned around the Esau struck her in the face with a stocking that contained rolls of pennies. The woman staggered back and fell on the sink; a look of utter terror and surprise was etched on her face, she tried to move but he struck her again and she fell unconscious on the floor. Esau pulled her limp body into the front room and began undressing her. Esau pulled down Gloria’s pink lace panties and closed his eyes as he sniffed them. He pulled two pairs of pantyhose from his pocket, tied one pair around her arms and another pair he stuffed in her mouth. The woman opened her terror filled eyes and looked up at him; he smiled as he raped her. After he had finished he removed the double condom and placed it in a small baggie. He then struck the terror stricken woman again with the weighted stocking, and dragged her into the bathroom and hoisted her into the tub. He spread her legs apart and propped her back against the edge of the tub and turned on the water carefully testing it so that it was lukewarm. The woman opened her glazed eyes; please she tried to say through the gag “Don’t kill me,” but the man smiled as he plunged the knife into her chest that gazed the left side of her heart, he pulled the knife free and plunged it into her chest again and again. He looked down at the dead woman and carved a deep X into her torso. He put his hands into her blood and drew a bloody X on the bathroom mirror. He then removed a jar from his pocket and put pieces of white skin under three of her fingernails. The man slowly backed out of the bathroom examining the area carefully as he removed the latex gloves. He looked for anything that could be used for evidence. He slowly backed into the living room searching the area. He spotted a small trace of blood on the floor where he had raped her. He took out an antiseptic soaked handkerchief and cleaned up the blood. He knew he couldn’t be too careful; a single drop of blood, a semen stain, a footprint or a fingerprint, a single strain of hair left could result in the coppers kicking in his door, and he knew that most criminals no matter how careful usually left something behind, but they were stupid and careless he was neither. He then slowly walked over to the dresser besides the cot and opened the two drawers, one had papers but the other had what he was seeking, he carefully removed the four pair of clean panties and held them to his nose for a moment. He removed a portable battery operated vacuum cleaner from his pocket and ran it over the floor and under the cot. He went through the apartment looking for anything that could indicate his presence, but found nothing, he was not worried about fingerprints or palm prints because he had worn latex gloves and besides he had never been arrested or fingerprinted. After taking a picture of the dead woman he slowly walked down the stairs, looked both ways and after seeing no one, slowly left the apartment.

INT: RIVER OAKS BALLY HEALTH CLUB POOL- 1 November 2008

I had just completed twenty laps in the pool and was in the locker room when my cell phone ranged, it was one of the secretary.

SECRETARY
Sergeant I, there’s been another one, at 4410 South King, I’ve also notified Evetta

Evetta and I arrived at 4410 South King Drive at the same time and made our way up the stairs to apartment 2B. There was a blur of activity in the room as forensic technicians, police officers and Area One Homicide Investigators attended to the business of preserving the crime scene and examining the apartment. Area One Homicide Detective Batoy gave me a copy of the preliminary report.

BATOY
Got a report from the tech he found skin under the victim’s fingernail belonged to a white man, think it’s a copycat?

RINGO
“Shit,” I said, “this city would go up in smoke if the blacks found that out.”

BATOY
Are you going to announce that?


RINGO
Hell no, not yet


Me and Evetta went into the small front room and I began reading the report as we walked into the bathroom were the victim was propped up in the bathtub her non-seeing eyes glaring at us.

EVETTA
Got word from Lieutenant numbnuts, Mr. Pepper was in the office for three hours looking at the mug book, no good but Mrs. Starks is suppose to come in later to view the mug book.

The latest murder in Chicago’s black community hit the national news that following morning and continued the entire day and was front-page news in the local papers and new shows. Over five hundred people organized by the community pastors staged a demonstration in front of police headquarters at 3500 South State Street. The growing crowd was growing edgy, taunts and accusations begin to ring out.

VOICE IN THE CROWD
The police don’t care about catching the killer because all the victims were blacks and in lived in all black communities

Another group of young blacks claimed the killing were part of a government conspiracy at genocide while some of the ministers spoke on loudspeakers claiming that white racists committed the killings. A surging crowd of reporters and news crews shoved their microphones at any police officer wearing a white shirt that indicated they were supervisors, but most of the citizens of Bronzeville were glued in front of their televisions as dour face newscasters flashed pictures of the victims across the screen and interviewed the mayor and the Chief of Police who stated that extra police officers were assigned to the community. The governor promised to assign State Police Officers to help in the investigation and request assistance from the FBI. What had been kept from the press were the thefts of each victim’s underwear. People started arming themselves, buying Pit Bulls and German Shepherds, making sure all the windows and doors were locked, installing burglar alarms and scrutinizing their neighbors.

INT: PERSHING MOTEL -420 East 39th Street - 11 October 2008
Esau Sneed awoke early he was feeling good as he turned on the television to NBC news and sat back on the bed a Irene Maudesa black female reporter was talking about the murder of Reverend Wilson and the murder of another black woman last night. He was amazed at how dumb and stupid the police was and he laughed aloud as he thought about the reverend, “Coward huh, I showed you who the coward was you black mutherfucker,” he said to the television.

IRENE MAUDESA
I’m reporting from the Special Crime Bureau and talking with Detective Sergeant, Doctor John Ringo the lead investigator on these murders, Doctor I anything new on the investigation?

Esau sat up and watches the television intently.

RINGO
I really can’t go into details, but we do have a witness and have some evidence.

Esau jumped out the bed and flopped down on a hard card table chair.

ESAU (SHOUTING AT THE TELEVISION)
What witness and what evidence?

RNGO (CONT)
The killer is very careful and he thinks he‘s clever, but like all criminals he made a mistake and will make another one


Esau started thinking about the recent murders, he relived everyone, and tried to think who could have seen him; he had been careful not to leave anything behind, he snorted a line of coke and hoped it would enhance his mind but it didn’t work. Who is the witness and what evidence? He repeated over and over and then did another line.


IRENE MAUDESA,
Thank you sergeant and good luck, Irene Maudesa, reporting for NBC news

As soon as the media had left, Lieutenant O’Shea burst into Ringo’s office.

LIEUTENANT O’SHEA (SCREAMING)
What fuckin’ witness and what fuckin’ evidence you didn‘t tell me anything about a witness or evidence?

I went to the refrigerator and removed a Coke.

LIEUTENANT O’SHEA (STILL SCREAMING)
Well, I’m waiting!

I sat the coke down on my desk and took a seat.

RINGO (SIPPING THE COKE)
Well, isn’t a lot to tell, I’m waiting to interview a possible witness

The lieutenant getting redder and angrier started to say something when over the loudspeakers, “Lieutenant O’Shea Captain Patricia Woods on line two.” Pointing his finger at me, the lieutenant said, “We’ll talk about this later,” as he stormed out the office.

EVETTA(SMILING)
You certainly know how to piss him off
A few minutes later Charley Turner entered and removed a report from his briefcase, “Good news Boss, we got a print and a match from the registered letter.

RINGO AND EVETTA
Great!

TURNER
The writer is a Mariah Woodberry, thirty-five, one arrest for panhandling and one for shoplifting baby clothes at Wal-mart but he bad news is she’s homeless

EVETTA
“Shit!

Evetta was at home preparing dinner for her family when her cell phone ranged. Her husband and two boys were playing a video football game on the machine.

BULL
Mama?

EVETTA
What’s up Bull?

BULL
Might have something for you, where and when can we meet?


Evetta though a minute and looked at her family in the living room. Jacobe, eight was sitting on the pillow next to Jamare, ten. Jashaun, three was sitting in his father’s lap. Jacobe was frantically working the controls on the video game and her husband La Shaun was rooting loudly as Jashaun yelled “Touchdown,” and high fived his father.


EVETTA
What about Sarge’s Joint in Roseland?

BULL
Cool, meet you in an hour

EVETTA (WALKINGED INTO THE LIVING ROOM)
Time out, Jashaun come into the kitchen a minute please

JASHAUN
Be right back, guys, what’s up?

EVETTA
Got to go to work baby, got a call from a snitch that might have some information on the X-Man

JASHAUN
It's late babe, can’t it wait until tomorrow

EVETTA
I’d better go; it might save a young woman’s life

JASHAUN
Is John going with you?

EVETTA
He’s my snitch he might not talk if John’s there, but I’ll call him for backup

Sarge’s Lounge was located on the far south side of the city n Roseland. It was a “Police bar,” with dark paneling and an equally dark ceiling. Leroy Ellison a retired police sergeant owned the bar and most of his customers were police officers. Evetta arrived at Sarge’s Lounge at 10 pm, two men were shooting pool and a couple was dancing to the music of the 4-Tops. Two men were sitting at the bar talking with the Leroy, she saw they were both armed and assumed they were police officers.
LEROY
Hey beautiful. Guys this is Detective Lunden, I broke her in, I mean on the job. These mopes are Elton McMann and William Jarvis; they work out of the fifth district. “What your poison?

The two police smiled and nodded,

EVETTA
Nothing right now, maybe later

LEROY
It’s on the house, how is that boss of yours?

EVETTA
John is doing fine, I’ll tell him you asked

LEROY
Tell him to not forget his old friends now that he big-time

EVETTA
Will do

Evetta spotted Bull sitting in a rear booth a can of Budweiser beer sat on the table. Evetta slipped into the opposite seat.

BULL
What’sup mama?

EVETTA
What you got?

BULL
I put the word out about the broad who got whacked on 43rd Street. Well one of my guys who work the alley told me that the broad always walk around her apartment nude or damn near nude. This dude, a little dude, my man doesn’t know his name was a regular customer and he and my guy would watch this broad parade her naked ass around. The customer was a weirdo and seemed to get off watching and he had a funny sounding voice. Well on the night the broad got whacked my guy said he saw this guy hanging around the gangway. My guy had to take care of some business and when he looked around the guy was gone. He later spotted him in the room with the broad. He couldn’t hear anything but the broad, naked seemed to be trying to get away from him. My guy got distracted again and when he looked in the window, he didn’t see the guy or the broad, also he said he saw the same guy walking with the broad got whacked on King Drive

EVETTA
Think your guy could point him out from photos?

BULL
Don’t know, I asked him that. You know with all the busts I’ve had with you guys I know the routine, but he said he only saw the guy at night in the dark alley

EVETTA
What about a description?

BULL
My guy said the dude was a little guy, but looked like a weight lifter or something and had a funny voice, that’s all he got

EVETTA
Thanks, man, owe you one


BULL
Owe me nothin’ mama

Ringo was waiting outside the lounge for Evetta who got into his car and told him of the conversation with Bull.

RINGO
Good work, Evetta, let’s get the team together in the morning and see what we’ve got

The following morning, Lieutenant O'Shea, Evetta, Charley Turner and Cristy Jones met in my office.

RINGO
Let’s see what we got, want to go first Charley?

CHARLEY
We know that Robin Honeywell was about two months pregnant and William Smith, her boyfriend was the father and has an alibi as well as her husband. There were no prints or any trace evidence, just a laceration on her head that Dixon said was caused by a blunt instrument, there were signs of sexual abuse and the murder weapon was probably one of her kitchen knives, no prints. We got a partial shoe print and found a condom with sperm in the garage, sent to the lab for DNA tests, nada. An analysis of the print indicated the wearer was a small man, found an X was drawn in the dust, and cast were made and logged into evidence. I interviewed the witness George Pepper, Louise next door neighbor who said he did get a good look at the man; he was short but well built. Mr. Pepper viewed photos, also nada. Re-interviewed of Louise revealed that she didn’t get a good look at the man either but believes he’s a member of the Hyde Park Bally Health Club. Cynthia White was an eighteen years freshman student at Chicago State University and she was also raped. There was blood and semen in her bedroom and semen was found during the autopsy, also according to the Doctor Dixon there was a small bit of dermal specimen under her fingernail that suggest a hyper pigmented dermis, in other words the killer was probably non-Caucasian, not Caucasian as originally thought, he’s waiting more results from the FBI Crime lab. Seems like she may have put up a fight, we’re waiting for a possible DNA match, she also was a member of the health club. Also at each crime scene the bloody X found on the mirror contained the victim’s blood type, we also still waiting on those DNA reports. All of the killings were occurred on the 10th of the month and as best as can be determined occurred between two and three in the morning and another odd thing it was always a rainy night. In all of the cases there are no apparent motives, most of the victims didn’t have money or jewelry the only things taken were their underwear.

RINGO
Cristy?

CRISTY
I interviewed Cynthia White parents who live in Warsaw, Indiana who stated that Cynthia moved to Chicago in June and as far as they knew didn’t know anyone. I re-interviewed the building manager and he said that she was quiet and as far as he knew she didn’t have a boyfriend. The old lady who lived next to Robin Honeywell said that Robin grew up in the neighborhood and was a nice girl but she often saw her parading around the apartment naked, sounds like an exhibitionist and I have set up an interview with neighbors and friends of the other victims, but you know these people don’t talk to cops. Interviewed Mrs. Starks and she looked at our mug books, but didn’t find anyone, all the DNA samples analyzed came back negative, no matches.

RINGO
Evetta
Had a conversation with an CI who said that one of his guys saw on two occasions a small man at the scene of two of the homicides. I’ll set up a meet later.

TURNER
Do we have one killer or two or do we have a copy cat?

RINGO
I don’t think so, If it is a copycat, how would he know about the missing underwear, that information hasn’t been released? The last killing was in October this is December, seems like he’s changing his pattern, the question is why he has stopped. I know it’s bad to say, but if he has stopped or moved to another state or country we might never catch him, anyway, thanks everyone. Charley try to put some heat on the state crime lab about the DNA, In the meantime Evetta and I are going to review the other victim’s files, maybe we missed something, and the question is, is there any connection between the victims outside the health club and how they are selected

Evetta pulled Peggy Smith case file from her briefcase. “Peggy Smith, twenty-five, the first victim of the X-Man. lived alone on the second floor at 4555 South Vincennes Avenue in a six-flat rehabbed building, found by building manager Mrs. Thomas and maintenance man, McRoy Gilberry on 10 January 2008, after tenants complained of a foul odor in the building, no witnesses, no one heard screams or saw anyone leave her apartment. Vic found in bathtub large X carved in her chest and another bloody X found on bathroom mirror. No signs of forced entry or missing property, except underwear, no trace evidence or prints.
It was a warm afternoon for the middle of December and the busy activity on 43rd Street could be heard a half block away. As usual I and Evetta did a walk-around of the building. The front of the building contained a sign cemented into ground that read “Vincennes Garden Court.”Beyond the sign were a cast iron fence, a locked key-card gate and a tenant’s directory, the building sat back in a well-kept yard that also contained potted plant, we walked to the rear and found another fenced and gated yard and the apartments had balconies, we returned to the front and ringed the manager’s bell.

MANAGER
Yes, can I help you?

EVETTA
Detective Lunden, Chicago Police Department, we would like to speak to you

MANAGER
Just a minute, please

In a moment the heavy gate buzzed and slowly opened and we walked to an apartment with a wooden plaque that read “Manager.” The door opened slightly and an elderly woman peeked out, Evetta and I showed the woman our identification and she opened the door. The manager, who identified herself as a Mrs. Ruby Darling looked to be in her sixties, wore too much face powder and wore her hair in a tight ball. She directed us to an oversized cloth couch and she sat in one of the two cloth chairs. On the crème colored wall was a picture of Luther King and on a large table were faded photos of an old woman sitting, a stern looking man standing and two young girls on each side of the woman, other family pictures doted the table.

EVETTA
We have just a few questions about Peggy Smith and we’ll let you go.


DARLING
I’ve already gave a statement to the police

EVETTA
We know, just back tracking to see if maybe you remember anything else, tell us about Peggy

DARLING
I just put on a pot for tea, care for some?

EVETTA
That’ll be fine, thanks

In a few minutes the lady returned with three cups and put the teapot on a tray. Mrs. Darling poured the tea and sat.

DARLING
Peggy was a good tenant paid her rent on time and never caused any problems or disturbance. Peggy usually left for work early in the morning and sometimes came in late. Whenever she had to work late she would call and she would look out for her

RINGO
What kind of person was Peggy?

DARLING
Plain girl, kind of shy she was the only child of a very sick father and she spent a lot of time with her mother


EVETTA.
Did she have a lot of guest? Boyfriend?

DARLING
I never saw her with anyone. She seemed like an introvert, had little to say, but was friendly, nice girl, but it seemed like the only thing she did was work, but she loved to read, especially books on Black History. I believed that she escaped into her books, where maybe she found some excitement for what looked to me like a pretty boring life for a young woman in Chicago, although a couple of times I saw her leave wearing gym clothes and carrying a large gym bag, I don’t know what was in it or where she was going

RINGO
Based on the information we have, her apartment door was not broken into, any idea how her killer got in?

DARLING
I don’t know, like I told the other officers all visitors must be buzzed in at the gate

RINGO
Have you rented the apartment yet?

DARLING (SIGHING)
No not yet, the police just removed the Seal a couple of weeks ago and I have to get the place painted and stuff before I rent it

EVETTA
Can we take a look?

DARLING
Sure, I’ll give you the key; I’m not ready to go back in there

The manager stopped me and Evetta at the door.


DARLING
I just remembered there was this good looking fella, a little guy but very muscular I saw them from my apartment window they both were carrying gym bags.

RINGO
Think you could identify him?

DARLING
I don’t think so, it was dark and I only got a glance of him

We thanked the manager for the tea and her time and headed for Peggy’s apartment. The door to the apartment still had the fingerprinting dust and contained two locks, which seemed undisturbed.

EVETTA
Think it was lover-boy?

RINGO
Could be, there’s no indications of a break-in, an unauthorized entry into the grounds or the building seem all but impossible, maybe our vic invited him up

The apartment was neat and orderly although sparsely furnished. The living room contained a battered couch, a chair and a color television. The bedroom contained only a queen-size bed, a small table and a two-dresser drawer and sliding patio doors that led to a small balcony. I slid open the patio doors and looked down at the first floor patio.

EVETTA
Think someone could climb up here from the ground?

RINGO
Sure if he was strong enough and not afraid of heights


15 December 2008

RINGO (TALKING ON CELL PHONE)
You busy,

MONIQUE (COYLY)
I’m always busy detective, why?

RINGO
Got time for lunch?

MONIQUE
Always got time for a free lunch with six feet two inch, hulk brother, where and what time?

RINGO
How about Glady’s on Indiana, twenty minutes?

MONIQUE
Give me a half hour, got to put on my goin’ out face

RINGO
See you then
Monique arrived in exactly a half hour and we stood very close as she squeezed pass me into the booth, her buttock rubbed against my penis and I felt a sudden surge of excitement and stepped back. The waitress brought silverware, napkins, water and menus.

WAITRESS
Be right back

I handed a menu to Monique and for a brief moment their hands met.

MONIQUE (MADE A SMACKING SOUND WITH HER LIPS)
Smother pork chops and sweet potatoes, sounds good to me

I stole a glance as she read the menu. She had a full mouth, not too big and not to small, I thought to myself.

RINGO
“Me too

The waitress returned and I gave her our orders.

MONIQUE
How’s the case coming?

RINGO
Nothing but dead-ends, no clues, no prints no nothing, why do you think he smears the blood of his victim on the mirror?

MONIQUE
Remember the FBI profile about his lack of a sexual identity and living in a fantasy world and perhaps had an unpleasant sexual experience when he was young, ever heard of erotic asphyxiation?
RINGO
I heard of it, that’s where people get off strangling each other during sex

MONIQUE
Close, it simply refers to intentionally cutting off oxygen to the brain for sexual arousal, it is also called asphyxiophilia or breath control play and is often incorporated into sex with a partner who are called gaspers. Maybe your killer is trying to establish a sexual identity, strangling someone can be sexually stimulation to someone with that type of mentality, and what is a better way than to get that sex stimulation than with a young attractive woman willing or unwilling and I think the X is something he identifies with from his past.

The pleasant waitress brought our food and we ate in silence.

EXT: Special Crimes Bureau -20 December 2008
Mariah Woodberry stood outside the Special Crimes Bureau it was a beautiful winter, sunny with just an early morning nip in the air. The air was fresh and clean and she breathed in deeply, she had been here before but never went in. She walked slowly up the front steps, big men rushed passed her, focusing on where they were going, no one paid her any attention. She was uncertain, scared, she didn’t want to be here but she owed Reverend Wilson, he was always kind to her and her children; giving her money to feed them, finding a place for them to stay, she owed him. In the weeks since his murder she tried to convince herself that she shouldn’t get involved, maybe the monster would come after her, after her children, but it didn’t work she knew what she must do, what she had to do, it was time to tell what she knew. She made her way to an unformed officer who sat behind a thick glass.

OFFICER
May I help you?
MARIAH
I would like to speak to Sergeant John Ringo

OFFICER
Can you tell me what it’s about?

MARIAH (LOWERING HER EYES)
I would rather talk to the sergeant

OFFICER
Just a moment I’ll see if he’s available, could I have your name please have your name?

MARIAH
Tell him my name is Mariah Woodberry

OFFICER
You can have a seat and I’ll call the sergeant

Mariah had barely sat before a man walking with a cane and a large woman came running down the stairs.“Mrs. Woodberry ? the woman asked in a quiet voice.

MARIAH
Yes

EVETTA
I’m Detective Lunden and this is Sergeant Ringo

RINGO
I am so glad to meet you

EVETTA
Come with us

I quickly gave her the cop’s once over, she looked homeless-torn jeans; two different colored sweaters covered a dingy white blouse, not dirty, just old and frayed. Her hair was cut short and covered by a black dew-rag. Her dark skin was ashy-as if she had washed her face, but no make-up. Even with the layers of clothes I could tell she was thin, no more than thirty and not doing well in life. She looked like she needed a good meal; I had a homeless woman for a witness? If her outside appearance gave any clues any clues at all it was that she had a hard life, what had happened to her, she didn’t appear to be on drugs, maybe alcohol or an abusive husband or boyfriend? As we walked through the first floor Mariah noticed men busy talking on the telephone or glaring at computers screens. There were computer on every desk, stacks of folders and all the garbage cans were full, there was the study hum of conversations but what amazed her was there was no yelling or loud talk, no chaos just men doing their job. They passed an interview room where a young Hispanic man was talking to men with guns strapped over their shoulders. The Hispanic man looked at her and winked, he must be desperate she thought as she put her head down and continued to Sergeant Ringo’s office.

EVETTA
Can I get you something to drink, coffee, tea or something cold?

MARIAH
Coffee will be fine thank you

I made a call to Monique and in a few minutes she entered holding a cup of coffee.

RINGO
“Mrs. Woodberry this is Monique Brown, she works with us

Monique handed the woman the coffee and took a seat in the rear of the office.

RINGO (CONT)
Did you send me the registered letter?

MARIAH (HOLDING HER HEAD DOWN)
Yes, I was so afraid, but I knew in my heart I had to talk to you to tell you what I saw, maybe it will help

RINGO
I can understand why, you witnessed a terrible act by a terrible man

EVETTA
I want you to take a deep breath, relax and when ready tell us what you know, okay, tell us what you saw at the church?

Mariah nodded, sipped the coffee, closed her eyes and laid her head on the back of the chair. Slowly she opened her eyes and stared down at the cup of coffee.

MARIAH
I’m alright now. I was sitting in the pew on the far side of the church waiting for the reverend he was always kind to me and my children, he gave me money for food and sometimes arranged for us to stay in one of the vacant rooms at the center, he told me to meet him after he finished his rounds at the senior center and he would see if he could find a permanent place for us to stay.
There were three people in the church, an older woman sitting alone, a man was slouched in a pew, he seemed to be asleep and another man praying. I noticed this little man come in and sat beside the older woman, they talked for awhile and they seemed to pray together, I heard her say Amen and she left, but the man continued to sit, soon after the man praying left and then I saw the man walk over to the man sleeping, pull out a knife and without a word cut his throat, and sat back down

EVETTA
Did you get a good look at him?

MARIAH
Not really, I was about five isles over and it was dark, but he was real short but muscular and he was wearing a short dark jacket. About twenty minutes later the reverend came in and walked to the pulpit, the little man followed him

RINGO
Did you hear anything they said?

MARIAH
In a high pitched voice I heard him ask the reverend if he could use the washroom.

She took another sip of coffee, trying to remain calm, her hands were shaking as she placed the cup on my desk, and she removed the dew rag and placed it in her lap.

EVETTA
You okay, want another cup of coffee or a glass of water?

MARIAH
No thank you

RINGO
Do you think he saw you

MARIAH (SHAKING HER HEAD)
No, he looked around but I was in the shadows lying down in the pew, I‘m sure he didn‘t see me
RING
Okay, when you ready, tell us what else happened

MARIAH (TEARS RUNNING DOWN HER CHEEKS)
As the reverend and the little walked down the hallway I slowly crawled behind them, believe me I wanted to warn the reverend but I was a coward, I was too afraid. I was terrified that if he saw me he would kill me

Evetta handed her a tissue and after a moment she took a deep breath.

MARIAH
As they walked down the hall I heard the reverend ask the man’s his name and he said in a high pitched voice, Esau Sneed, but they call me the X-Man the one you called a coward, well here’s to cowards,” he said and he hit the reverend with something, I don’t know what it was but it knocked the reverend down and then…..” the tears ran freely now “And then I saw him take out a knife it looked like the same one he used on the man in the pew and stabbed the reverend repeatedly and craved an X in his chest. I hurriedly crawled back to my hiding spot and he walked out the hall and carved an X in the chest of the other man, then he left, just as cool as you please, I waited for a long time before I crawled over to the reverend, blood was everywhere; I ran out the church and nearly knocked a woman down who was entering

SPECIAL CRIMES UNIT -21 December 2008
Detective First Grade Christine “Christy” Guerra was twenty-nine and had eight years on the department, five of them as a detective in the Vice Control Division-Prostitution Unit. Her father Ralph was a retired police captain and a good friend of Ist Deputy Superintendent Dennis Gult who had arranged for her to be transferred into the unit and assigned to Ringo’s team, two months ago. Christy as she was called was half black and half Mexican. She was five-feet-ten and had long black hair that she wore in a tight ball, dark brown eyes and a well-rounded figure. Evetta had taken her under her wings and told me that the girl was smart, sure of herself yet maintained her femininity, something sometimes unusual in the once all boys fraternity of a police department. Evetta and I were in my office when Christy entered.

RINGO
I got a call from Julie at the health club who said that a guy we asked about was a member and named Esau Sneed, based on what Mariah told us and we’ve found a common connection between at least three of the Vics, Louise Johnson, Cynthia White and Peggy Smith were all members, but we need more, we’ve got to catch him in the act. This lover-boy fits all the profiles from the FBI; this is what I want you to do. I want you to join the club and try to get lover boy’s attention. Be cordial at first and when he really starts to come on to you, brush him off, if the profilers are right this should really piss him off and let see what happens. I believe that he chose his victims at the club. Remember he’s a good-looking guy, he gives his intended victims the eye a few times from across the workout room and he keeps giving them the eye until they bites and becomes interested, then he make his move; it could a dinner date, a drink at the fitness center bar or maybe she even invites him over to her place or he finds were see lives and just show up, rings her bell, flash that brilliant smile and is invites him in. Each time could be a little bit different; maybe he kills her right away or rapes her first. See if you can challenge his ego, put his over inflated ego on the defensive, this is strictly a voluntary assignment, Christy and it could be dangerous, so if you have any qualms about it let us know, no hard feelings

CHRISTY
I worked as an uncover prostitute on the Westside, got stabbed once by a pissed-off john and a black eye from a over-heated trucker, lover boy will be a piece of cake, when do you want me to start?

RINGO
As soon as possible

CHRISTY
Got to go, got some shopping to do

EVETTA
Make sure you get receipts for everything you spend so the department can reimburse you

CHRISTY
“Yes ma’am”

EVETTA
I like that girl, she’s got balls

Evetta cell phone ranged and she removed it from her purse and answered. In a few minutes she hung up.

EVETTA
That was my snitch; he said he got some more information. I’m going to meet him at Sarge’s in twenty minutes


RINGO
I’ll be in the same place as before

It was two in the afternoon when Evetta got to Sarge’s. The bar was full of older men and women looking at a video movie, a short, wore out looking barmaid was behind the bar stirring a pot of Chili, Evetta ordered a glass of white wine and sat across from Bull in a back booth.

EVETTA
What you got Bull?

BULL
I recently heard about the babe getting whacked on 43rd Street and one of my associates who work that area said one night awhile back he saw this dude climbing like a monkey in the building where the shit happened. He said he watched the dude as he climbed up on the first floor rear balcony, tried the door and climb onto the second balcony and entered the apartment. He figured the guy was a burglar or somethin’ and went back to work

EVETTA
I've got to interview him and the other guy who saw something on 47th Street

BULL
Way ahead of you mama, I keep telling you I know all about this police shit. Come on we’re both in my ride, they’re too young to come in here

Evetta followed Bull to his 2008 Escalade Cadillac, she noticed Ringo get out his vehicle and she motioned him to get back in the car. The two young men were sitting in the back seat playing a video game on a wide screen monitor as Evetta and Bull got in.

BULL
Mama, this is Moe and Bo

Evetta looked at the two young boys, Moe looked maybe fifteen and Bo looked younger.

BULL
Bo you tell mama what you saw

BO
I was working in the alley at my spot when I saw this little ass dude walking in the alley. I was in the shadows so he didn’t see me, anyway he was dressed in all black, like that outfit my main Shaft was wearing before he flew through the window and killed all of them grease ball motherfuckers…

BULL (IMPATIENTLY)
Get to the fucking point

BO
Sorry boss, anyway this guy was dressed in all black and had a backpack on his back. He jumped and grabbed the bottom of the first floor patio and pulled himself up. Flipped over the rail and moved to the side of the patio window. He peeped into the apartment, but all the lights were out. I watched him as he tried the door, but it musta been locked. Next thing I know he climbing from the first floor balcony to the second floor balcony, just like them monkeys you see in the movies, reminded me of an old Tarzan movie, I saw where……


BULL
Goddamn it, get to the point, will you

BO
Oops, sorry boss., anyway I watched this guy as he got to the second floor balcony, tried the door and went in, I had some bizness to conduct so I forgot about him, figured he was a burglar or somein’. About an hour later I saw him climbing back down from the second floor to the first floor and then he jumped into the ally. The mutherfucka passed right by me, but didn’t see me and it looked like there was blood on his clothes. I watched him as he walked down the alley and turn right at 44th Street

EVETTA
Did you see his face?

BO
No, I think he had a mask or something over his face, but as he walked passed he said “shit,” in a fucked up accent

BULL (LOOKNGED AT MOE)
Moe?

MOE
Like I told you boss, me and this little guy done bizness before, he usually coped weed, but this night he wanted some white powder, bought one bill worth. He went deeper into the alley snorted and came back smoking a blunt. The broad was in full view now in the window, naked as a mutherfucka, you could see the hair around that snatch. Ole boy was feeling no pain and whipped it out and started jackin’ off. We both laughed and he said I’m going to get some of that pussy. I thought he was bullshitting until I saw him muscle his way through the gangway window and I saw him in the room with the broad, she was still naked, they went somewhere and I lost sight of them

EVETTA
Did you see him leave?

MOE
No, but about two hours later, he came back and copped some more weed

EVETTA
Did he have an accent or speak funny?

MOE
Yeah, he talked real funny; had a high pitch voice sometimes I would have to ask him what he said

EVETTA
Ever see him again?

MOE
Yeah, Saturday about two months ago I saw him and a broad walking down 43rd Street, all lovey-dovey and shit, I asked if he wanted to cop but he shook his head. I watched them leave the Arab joint, and then I got busy and didn’t see them anymore

EVETTA
What did the woman look like?

MOE
She was a young broad, maybe twenty-one or twenty-two, not bad looking, just looked poor

EVETTA
What did he look like

MOE
A little dude maybe five feet or so, but a strong lookin’ little fucker

EVETTA
Could you identify the guy?

MOE
Yeah, I believe so, I only saw him at night, but I’ll try

Evetta and Bull exited the vehicle and stood on the sidewalk.

BULL
Hope it can help you catch this cocksucker, he’s bringing to much heat to the hood and besides he killing all that young pussy

EVETTA (HUGGING BULL)
Thanks Bull, you might just have save some other young pussy

BULL (GETTING BACK INTO HIS VEHICLE)
Anything for you, mama

On their way back to the office Evetta told Ringo of the conversations she had with Bull’s drug dealers. I pulled up all the evidence reports from all the victims on the computer. There was a knock on my office door, “Come in,” I yelled. Detective First Grade Christine Guerra entered the office, her long black hair was down to her backside and she wore a skin-tight white Lycra body suit that accentuated her brownish skin and firm body. The suit was low-cut and provided an enticing view of her small breast.

RINGO
Wow

EVETTA
What happened to conservative dressing Detective First Grade Christine Guerra?


CHRISTY (SLOWLY TURNING AROUND)
Think this will get lover boy’s attention?

Detective First Grade Christine Guerra arrived at the Ball Health Club at 7:00 a.m. Monday morning and registered as Maria Cardosa, she was taken on a tour of the facilities by Juanita Ferrara a personal trainer. There were twenty people working out in the aerobatic class, another fifteen were doing water aerobics and maybe thirty people were sweating, fast walking and running on the elliptical machines, Christy paid the $50.00 fee and joined. For the next two weeks Christy went to the club but there was no sign of Esau, it was two days before Christmas and snow covered the bare trees. Christy had just competed ten laps in the pool and was getting out when she noticed a little man looking at her smiling, Christy wore a green thong bikini and her shoulder length black hair was in a ponytail. As she approached the towel rack, the man handed her one, she shyly wrapped the towel around her.

CHRISTY
Thanks

ESAU
You’re welcome, beautiful lady my name is Ronald

CHRISTY (WALKING OFF)
Christy

ESAU
Can I buy you a sport drink?

CHRISTY
Sure

They sat at the counter and Cristy ordered a banana, apple and peach drink and Esau ordered the same.

ESAU
How long have you been a member of the club

CHRISTY
Nearly a month now, you?

ESAU
Just over a year, I’m surprised that I haven’t seen anyone as beautiful as you here before, what time do you generally come?“No specific times, sometimes in the morning, sometimes in the evenings. I guess I will have to stay around here all day in that case just to see you

Christy finished half of her juice and got up.


CHRISTY
Thanks for the juice

Esau watched her as she walked away and Christy let her towel slip revealing the smooth curves of her butt, Esua felt the rising in his tight gym shorts. The following morning Christy met with Ringo and Evetta.

CHRISTY
I think I made contact with lover-boy, he calling himself Ronald, but I sure it’s him

EVETTA
Good, how did it go

CHRISTY
He’s a flirt that’s for sure, but not a bad looking little fuck

RINGO
What happened?

CHRISTY
Nothing much, he bought me a drink at the health bar, that’s all

EVETTA
Well, let’s see what happens, but be careful

Christy waited two days before returning to the Center and after swimming in the pool she looked in the weight room and saw Esau pressing a two hundred pound weight, when he saw Cristy he motioned for the handler to place the weights in the rack.

ESAU
Whatsup up Christy, you’re looking good enough to eat

CHRISTY
I’m cool Ronald, whatsup with you

ESAU
Just keeping in shape, I will have to be to keep up with your fine ass
Christy smiled.
ESAU (CONT)
I know a nice, quiet intimate restaurant a short distance from here, join me for lunch?


CHRISTY
Why not, meet you in the lobby in twenty

ESAU
Great,” Esau said as he watched her walk away. He immediately got a painful erection.

Esau and Christy had lunch at Dusty’s Restaurant and he drove her to her departmental rented apartment. The next morning she was in Ringo’s office.

EVETTA
How’s it going

CHRISTY
It’s going, we had lunch yesterday and he drove me home, he really thinks he’s ladies man, with his short ass

RINGO
You’ve got to play him, I don’t know what kind of move he’s going to make on you, but I know he‘s going to make a move. If he drove you home he thinks he knows where you live. That’s where he’s going to make his move

Christy apartment was in Hyde Park an affluent Chicago neighborhood a mile or two from the fitness center. Christy’s “House,” had been rented by the police department and was equipped with close-circuit cameras, concealed microphones and other high-tech surveillance equipment. Christy saw Esau a couple of times at the club but according to the plan she was very reserved and withdrawn. She refused invitation for drinks at the health bar or lunch and she knew that Esau was becoming frustrated and perhaps angry. Ringo arranged around the clock surveillance on Esua and he was observed him on numerous occasions standing outside of Christy apartment. Whenever Christy saw him at the club she noticed him watching her and trying to make conversation which she abruptly cut off. Each rejection by Cristy got Esau angrier and he finally cornered her in the weight room.

ESAU
Whatsup beautiful got time for a drink?

CHRISTY
No, I’m sorry, I’ve got to run

Esau had Cristy nearly pinned against the tread mill.

ESAU
Seems like you are always in a hurry, whatsup?
I had arranged for another young detective to meet Christy at the center, the detective was handsome entered the room.

YOUNG DETECTIVE
Hi babe ready to go?

Christy squeezed past Esau and walked over to the detective gave him a hug and a kiss.

CHRISTY
This is Mark my fiancé.

Esau stood in the room still smelling Christy perfume and how good she felt as she squeezed past and he knew he had to have her. For the next two weeks Esau watched Christy as she went home. He had watched the apartment and noticed there was a patio door on the rear porch and there were large trees in the small backyard. He made a note that her neighbors generally left for work at six in the morning and Christy usually left the apartment going to the club or to run errands around nine, that would give him plenty of time to fuck her brains out, what Esau didn’t know was that he was also being watched. A week after New Year’s Esau was ready, he had smoked some crack, downed a couple pills and had a terrific hard-on, and today was the day. He had watched Cristy house all night and watched the next door neighbors leave with two kids and her other neighbor left their house early that morning. Esau went to the alley behind Christy’s house, enter the backyard and crawled to the patio doors. He easily popped the lock on the doors and entered. A CNN news program was on the television and the volume was very loud, he also heard water running in the shower; “good he thought she’s getting clean for me,” he popped another pill and quietly made his way to the bathroom and saw a silhouette through the shower curtains. Esau half dazed from the drugs and lack of sleep snatched back the shower curtain and saw John Ringo’s Glock pointed at his head.

RINGO
Run asshole so I can pop a cap in your ass

Suddenly the room was filled with uniformed police.

INT: SPECIAL CRIMES INTERROGATION ROOM- 15 January 2009
I, Evetta and Monique observed Esau as he sat seemingly unconcerned in the interrogation room. His feet were shackled and one hand was cuffed to a wall chain. He appeared to be looking directly at us and smirking, as we stood behind the one-way mirror.

RINGO
Why do you think he agreed to talk to us?

MONIQUE
Based on his psyche report he has a near genius IQ and he really believes that he’s smarter than anyone else, he needs to talk, to show you how much smarter than you he is. Surprisingly, some serial killers want people to know why they committed those horrendous crimes, they want to show how inadequate the police are, my advice, work with him, thanks him for his willingness to cooperate, but remember he is a psychopath and is highly intelligent and will probably try to play mind games with you.
He’s another Ted Bundy or that character in “Silence of the Lambs,” trusts your instincts, you’re the best homicide detective in this city, you’ll know what to do,” she said offering him a smile of confidence. The little man dark almost hypnotic eyes tracked me as I entered the interrogation room and sat facing him. He was dressed in an orange jumpsuit and wore paper sandals. His feet were shackled with leg irons and his hands were shackled to an iron wall ring. His public defender a young black man who looked right out of law school sat next to him. Esau was handsome; he had smooth skin, dark curly hair and a muscular body. I knew that an interrogation is like a game of chess and I had to have a plan and for every move he made and have a counter move. I also knew I had to establish an immediate rapport with this beast and had to convince him I was sincere. I turned on the tape recorder and dictated the specifics, date, time, place and persons present.

RINGO
You agreed to talk with me without a lawyer why?

ESAU
Why not, I haven’t done anything wrong

RINGO
I want you to know how much we- I- appreciate your agreeing to talk with us. Hopefully, we can help each other,” I said looking at the PD.

ESAU
I want to help if I can, I haven’t done anything wrong
Ringo slid him an official notification of rights form that he read, signed and slid to him.

RINGO,
You don’t consider breaking and entering and killing innocent young women wrong?

ESAU
Depends on your perspective, detective, but I didn’t kill anyone


I didn’t answer and continued looking at Esau, I hated this man and wished that he wasn’t handcuffed to the wall, I wanted him to try something, to try to escape, to give me a reason to kill him to save the state the expense of a trial.

RINGO
You don’t think killing an innocent man and a reverend wrong?

ESAU (YAWNING)
Don’t know what you talking about

RINGO
What about the other women you killed? The young girl and prostitute in Gary, don’t you think the families of these women need closure, six women have been killed and the MO is the same for all six?

ESAU
Well, looks like someone is reading the news reports and acting like a copycat

RINGO
Why, what was your motive?”
Esau’s thin, colorless lips formed a smile.

ESAU
I don’t have a motive, because I didn’t kill anyone, but I will tell you this, women, all women are evil, they all need to be released from their sins and I’m glad someone helped them

RINGO
Why are women evil?

ESAU
Women tempt men with their filthy bodies, walking around half nude all the time, I see it all the time, gyrating at the club with their asses hanging out, they are the personification of evil! I believe that women should be pure in heart and body, that they should use their bodies to bring forth life, not cloud the mind of men and young boys wriggling their naked, black asses all around, I’ve seen it, I’ve watched them.

RINGO
Watched them, where?

ESAU (SHOVED HIS HANDS BENEATH THE TABLE AND RUBBED HIS PENIS)
At the club of course and on the street! Everywhere, I’ve watched them; most of them are lonely, frustrated young women who need a good fucking. I watched them as they paraded around the club wearing those tight gym outfits, tempting the men then playing hard to get, they all wanted to be fucked


RINGO
How do you know they were lonely?

ESAU
They are always alone, and who would want to be bothered with their hot infected asses, could I have a cigarette detective, preferably a Kool?”

RINGO
I don’t smoke but I’ll see if I can get you one

I left the room and joined Evetta and Monique who were watching

EVETTA
He’s one sick sonofabitch, masturbating in front of everyone, I’ll see if anyone got a cigarette, a Kool cigarette

MONIQUE
He’s took out his anger on these women, I would suggest you try to get him to talk about his childhood, especially about his mother

EVETTA (HOLDING A PACKAGE OF SALEM)
Hope the motherfucker get lung cancer

Ringo returned to the interrogation room, gave a cigarette to Esau and lit it. Esua closed his eyes and took a deep pull on the cigarette while he shoved his hands into his crotch and squirmed. A moment later Esau opened his eyes, raised his free hand to his face and removed the cigarette and threw it on the floor but before he could stamping it out, I grabbed it.


ESAU
Thank you detective, for the smoke

RINGO
Tell me about your childhood, Esau you don’t mind me calling you Esau do you?

ESAU
Only if I can address you by your first name?

RINGO
It’s John

ESAU
Ok, John, what do you want to know about my childhood

RINGO
Brothers or sisters?

ESAU (SMILING)
Nope, my mom’s always told me that I was too perfect to have any siblings

RINGO
What about your father

ESAU
Never knew him

RINGO
Mother?

ESAU
A good woman, a saint


RINGO
I’d bet she was a looker, you are a very handsome man

ESAU (SMILING)
Thank you, my mama was a good looking woman, small but shapely, long black hair and dark skinned. Look like one of those African princesses you see in books

RINGO
Were you’ll close?

ESAU
Very close, she took me everywhere with her, to my violin lesson, to my math tutor

RINGO
You played the violin?

ESAU
Yeah, my teacher told my mom that I was a prodigy, I could hear a piece of violin music once and play it by ear

RINGO
What about the math tutoring?

ESAU (SMIRKING)
Again I was a prodigy, I have a photographic memory

I slowly open a manila folder.


RINGO (READING)
Mamie Sneed, ten arrests for prostitution, five for theft, numerous arrest for possession of heroin. , found dead and naked in the bathtub, needle sticking out her arm and a pair of pantyhose tied around her neck

The little man black eyes bored into me.

ESAU
She had a few problems

RINGO
Tell me about how you felt when as a little prodigy seeing your naked junkie ass, hoeing mother dead with a hype sticking out her arm

ESAU
Fuck you, you black muthafucker

RINGO
You’re so fuckin’ brilliant, a violin and math prodigy and you didn’t know it was wrong for your mother to be a whore and a junkie?

RINGO (THROWING PICTURES OF ESAU
MOTHER ON THE TABLE)
Look at your “sainted” whoring mama her hands crossed in an X across her chest, sitting upright in the bathtub. The picture was dated on the 10th of the month, most of your victims were killed on the tenth, motherfucker

The little man tried to get up but was restrained by the wall shackle, his eyes were on fire.


ESAU (YELLING)
Fuck you what you know?

Ringo got right in Esau’s face.

RINGO (SMILING)
I know I’ve got an eye witness that can put you at a rape scene, I know I got a witness of your murder of the reverend and the other man in the church, also have a condom with sperm and sperm from some of your victims, I got your fingerprint and a hair sample and I know I’ve got your DNA off the cigarette. You as not as smart as you think, you were careless, asshole, you figured that since you have never been arrested there would be no fingerprints or DNA on file, but I’ve got your little ass now.”

Esau struggled trying to get up, Ringo wished he could release him from the wall shackles, so he could end it right here. Ringo shook his head and walked out the room he called three other detectives and told them to book Esau for murder. Esau was fingerprinted, photographed and a swap taken from his mouth for DNA and taken to the lockup. Ringo watched and smiled as Esau still screaming and looking at the mirror was led away.

EVETTA
Crazy as a loon

RINGO
We’ll let him simmer for awhile hopefully I can a confession or something close anyway

An hour later I decided to have another shot at Esau and me and Evetta walked down the stairs to the lockup. The lockup only contained three cells and was primarily used to detain prisoners until transported to Central Lockup; we were surprised when we did not see the lockup keeper, Tony.

EVETTA (YELLING)
Tony, Tony

There was no answer we had our weapon out as we passed one of the cells, the prisoner was either asleep or faking, and twenty feet down the corridor was an empty cell. we continued walking to the last cell, which was locked and found Tony laying on the steel bed, eyes wide open and a large gash across his neck. Esau was gone.

EVETTA
What the fuck!

RINGO
Fuck!

EXT: POLICE PARKING LOT
Esau casually walked out the rear of the police station passed the gas pump where a civilian employee was gassing up a squad car. Two police officers were standing next to their vehicle talking. One looked at Esau and nodded, Esau smiled and nodded back as he entered Western Avenue and caught a southbound bus.

ESAU (WHISPERING)
Stupid motherfuckers

As the bus stopped at 43rd South Western Avenue Esau saw the men were still working at the construction site. He got off the bus and watched Ada from a distance she was so busy yelling at a worker she didn’t notice him as he leaned against a building. “Your time bitch motherfucker,” Esau said to himself looking at the clock on the American National Bank, it was 5:15 pm. “You’ve got fifteen minutes to live bitch,” Esau said in a low voice. At five twenty the workers started putting up their tools and headed to their cars. Ada was waiving her arms and yelling at a young black man who had his head down. A few minutes later the worker slumbered off and Ada headed for her car. The work site was empty all the cars were gone except Ada‘s, as she put the key in the car lock; Esau put the knife in her back.
ESAU
Get in the car bitch, and don’t look around

Ada did as told and Esau got in the back seat.

ESAU (CONT)
Drive, hoe and don’t look at me

Ada started the car and drove off the site.

ADA
Where to?

ESAU
Make a left at 44th Street and keep driving

When they reached 44th South Paulina Esau directed Ada to stop behind a vacant apartment building. Esau got out the rear seat and moved into the front seat.

ESAU
Remember me, bitch

ADA
Esua, what the fuck you think you’re do…..

Before she could finish, Esau struck her hard in the face and stabbed her in the side with the knife, Ada slumped against the driver’s door and Esau pulled her flat on the seat. Ada opened her glazed, terror filled eyes and tried to say something but Esau plunged the knife into her throat, pulled down her pants and raped her, he heard a slight gasped and said,” That’s for fuckin’ over black men.” After he finished he carved an X into her chest, pulled Ada’s dead body from the car and drove off. Two hours later her body was found and Ringo was notified. When Evetta and I arrived we interviewed Officer Pierce, the reporting officer, his sergeant introduced me to the officer.

SERGEANT
Officer Pierce this is Sergeant Ringo, tell him what you got

PIERCE
I was stopped by a Mr. Willie William who is a carpenter at the construction site on 43rd Western, he said that he was on his way to work and he generally takes a short cut through the alley on Paulina. As he passed an abandon building he saw a woman leg he stopped and saw it was his boss, Ada Shaw she had been stabbed numerous times and her dress was up and her panties pulled down to her ankles. He rushed to the site and called 911

Evetta and I went to the construction site and met with Willie Williams

RINGO
Do you know anyone who might have a bitch with Ada?

WLLIE
Everyone, she was a bitch, fucked with everybody

RINGO
Do you remember ever seeing a little, good looking guy hanging around the site?

Willie shook and scratched his head.

WILLIE
Yeah there was this little fucker who Ada was always fuckin’ with, his name was Eli, Eway………?

RINGO
Esau

WILLIE
Yeah, that’s it Esau Sneed, we use to call him the “little bitch.”

EVETTA
What happened to him?

WLLIE
Ada fired him

RINGO
Thanks, we’ll get back to you

The Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office is located on west Roosevelt Road. We stopped at the reception desk and in a few minutes were met by Doctor Dixon who led us down antiseptic, white tiled stairs to the basement morgue operating room. We entered through a closed steel door into the cold, dry air of the operating room. The icy chill and various chemical smells always made me feel nauseous and it was no different now. On the operating table was Ada, a sterile sheet covered her privates parts but the rest of her body was exposed. I moved closer to the table and looked at her, her soft ebony skin, her face so peaceful she was so out of place in these cold surroundings.

DIXON
Our examination of Ada revealed that she died of multiple stab wounds made with a surrogated knife, she had been raped and sodomized probably post mortem, traces of sperm.

The sight of Ada on the table dogged me all the way back to the Special Crime Bureau, I thought about all the other victims of this monster. Most people can accept death of a love one that is sick or even killed accidentally, but how do you accept a love ones death that is sudden, needless and brutal? We returned to the building and shuddered as I went up the stairs to Monique’s office. When I entered her office she got up from her desk and hugged me tightly, I smelled her perfume and felt her body next to mine. Finally we let each other go.

MONIQUE
Sit, detective

I did as requested and flopped down exhausted in an oversized, brown cloth chair.

MONIQUE (CONT)
Think it’s him?

RINGO (EYES CLOSED)
Seems like it; an X carved into her body

Later that evening, I returned to my office and retrieved the folder on Esau Sneed as the other detectives called it quits for the day. I couldn’t get the images of Ada Shaw lying on the stainless steel tables out of my mind. “Esau Sneed, born in Chicago, 1970, mother overdosed when he was three and three years later placed by DCFS with foster parents, Demetrius and Donna Whitley. In 1988, foster parents found stabbed to death in their Westside apartment and Donna was raped, Esau not found but considered a suspect. Interviews with teachers at Finger Elementary school revealed that he was teased and bullied by the other boys because he wore braids and barrettes in his long hair, teasing increased when discovered in gym class that he wore ladies panties, exceptional student and tested to have an IQ of 150, genius level. Suspected of killing six young women in Chicago and taking their panties and two in Gary, Indiana. He was arrested in September 14, 2009 but escaped from the lockup September 14, 2009 after killing a police officer. ” I pulled out the folder containing the FBI’s five page profile of the Esua Sneed and looked at the photo. He was a little man, handsome and listed at only five feet but had a well developed chest and muscular. I continued to read the FBI profile, “The X-man is a serial killer and without doubt is mentally ill, whether as a result of some event or trauma in his life or through chemical imbalances in his brains he cannot think and process emotions like the rest of us can in everyday situations. The X-man probably begun life in abusive or broken homes, with little or no parental influence and no positive social interaction with family members. This may have lead him to develop abnormal ideas of what is normal for people to do, He will one day take his behaviors to the next level, which in this case is killing people, probably women. He is probably socially backward, or the other extreme, seem socially normal, but secretly think that he is somehow above and beyond other people and smarter than other people. Your X-Man is a sociopath, people who cannot feel empathy, or feel sadness or guilt in a normal way like we can, which allows them to kill people with indifference and without suffering any negative emotions as a consequence. When a normal person kills another, they usually feel guilt and empathize with their victim, as well as knowing that they did something wrong. In short they can put themselves in the victim’s position in their mind, and can imagine the victim missing out on the rest of their life, and knows the full impact of what they have done. Sociopaths however don't see any of this, and because of he can’t he can kill indiscriminately at will without feeling any guilt about it at all, even if their victims were totally innocent of harming them. Serial Killers are the most difficult to understand or, rather, the reasoning behind their actions are difficult to comprehend. The drives behind these killings can vary from case to case. Fetishes and hatred of the opposite sex can be motivators in these killings. Two facts can be agreed upon by experts about serial killers. First, serial killers generally prey upon their preferred sex; for example, homosexual serial killers will seek out same sex victims, as in the case of Jeffrey Dahmer, bi-sexual killers- both sexes and heterosexual killers choose the opposite sex. Secondly, as a serial killer continues in his killing spree and he becomes more experienced, violence in the killings tend to escalate. There are no known cases of a serial killer starting out by dismembering his victims and, later, deciding that poison would be better. Some killers may simply have been born with this need to kill. Serial killers are, generally, difficult to catch and the reason may be this: there are two types of killers. The first type is those we see on the streets. The observer may know that this person is imbalanced and that their behaviors are unacceptable, but they do nothing. The second type is the person, who knows that their fetishes and behaviors are unacceptable. This person keeps his behaviors concealed and carries on a sort of "double life." This second type of madman is the more dangerous of the two. He is the next door neighbor, who you do business with or has contact with everyday, whom you would never expect to be a calculating killer. When he's caught, all who know him are shocked to the point of disbelief. Yet, he may even have been caught red-handed; Ted Bundy was a fine example of this very type. Serial killings have been recorded as early in history as the 1800's; they continue to this day. Unfortunately, there is no crystal ball in existence that can aid authorities in predicting who might become such a killer.” After another hour I decided I had it and was leaving the building when I saw Monique standing outside she raised her skirt a little and struck a pose.

MONIQUE
Going my way, big boy?

I smiled back and we left together.

RINGO
Hungry?

MONIQUE
I could eat

RINGO
Italian ok?

MONIQUE
Great

Vinzenato Italian Restaurant is located at 24th South Western Avenue, an area mainly Italian and Hispanic. The owner Maria Torena Vinzenato an Italian immigrant opened the restaurant in the late 1990’s and works ten to fifteen hours a day cooking authentic Italian dishes and greeting her customers. The establishment itself is small and intimate with the soft romantic voice of Andre Bocelli floating throughout the room. There were maybe fifteen tables and the staff which were mainly her relatives, are friendly and helpful. We were seated and a large green salad and a basket of hot rolls were delivered by an attractive dark haired young woman that appeared just a little older than Deloris. I ordered Fried Bacala-Antipasto for appetizers, and a bottle of Chardonnay. We snacked on the salad and antipasto and l ordered veal Cutlet Milanese for Monique and Sea Bass in Foil with Potatoes for myself. After a leisurely two hour dinner where we rubbed legs under the table we left. I tried to entice Monique to my place for another drink, but she refused, she had a lot of cases the next day. I drove her to her vehicle parked in the police lot and drove home, the image of Ada constantly in my thoughts.

15 December 2009
When I entered the building one of the detectives mouthed, “Lieutenant Marvel, want to see you right away.”
Without knocking or waiting for an invitation I walked into Lieutenant David O’Shea’s office and sat on the arm rest of a chair across from his desk The lieutenant didn‘t acknowledge me as he continued writing on a yellow pad on his oversized wooden desk. By designed O’Shea had ordered a high chair that made him look down on anyone sitting, and I knew by sitting on the arm it pissed him off. He put his pen down and looked at me for a second.

O’SHEA
Please sit in the chair sergeant
I ignored the request and continued sitting, he shook his head and his ruddy red face got redder.

O’SHEA (CONT)
You and that partner of yours really fucked things up, letting that prisoner escape

RINGO
We didn’t let him escape, how I don’t know, but Tony Alfonso the lockup keeper was killed, did you read my report?


O’SHEA
Yeah I read it and it is completely unacceptable, you and your partner should have personally taken him to the lockup

RINGO
I don’t recall ever reading that in a General Order

O’SHEA (SLIDING A COMPLAINT REGISTER FORM TO ME)
Fuck General Orders, it’s your fault that a serial rapist and killer escaped and I will be investigation this complaint myself, and if founded I’m going to recommend separation for you and your partner

RINGO (WALKING OUT THE OFFICE)
Do your worst

I sat in the large comfortable chair in Ist Deputy Superintendent Dennis Gult outer office and browsed through the magazines on the table. I knew this was not going to be a pleasant meeting, Lieutenant O’Shea had already got a Complaint Registered Number on me and Evetta alleging that we were responsible for the escape of Esau Sneed and the murder of the lockup keeper, Tony Alfonso. I wasn’t worried about the complaint it was completely unfounded, but that was O’Shea’s way to deflect the heat on the Special Crimes Bureau and himself. After a half-hour wait Captain Patricia Woods came to the door and summoned me into the office.

GULT
Have a seat John; be with you in a minute

I sat next to the captain and a few minutes later Gult he put down a folder and turned to me

GULT(CONT)
What happen John?
RINGO
I interrogated Esau Sneed and told him of the evidence we had against him after he went off on me I had a couple of my detectives take him to the lockup to cool his heels. I planned on interrogating him and hopefully get a confession. When I went to get him that’s when I found the lockup keeper and Esau gone

GULT
How in the hell does that lieutenant deduct it was your fault?

RINGO
Me and the lieu have never gotten alone, why I don’t know, but like he always says, “Shit rolls down hill

GULT (SHAKING HIS HEAD)
Don’t worry about the CR number, I’ll take care of that. I’ve been notified that the US Marshals have a warrant out for Esau and are looking for him and they have assigned Marshal Marcus Cahill as a liaison with the department and I want you and Evetta to work with him. I’m assigning you and your people to my office and you will report directly to me through Captain Woods, she will give you anything you need. Any word on the DNA off the cigarette?

RINGO
It’s Esau Sneed


After escaping from the Special Crimes Bureau Esau Sneed spent the next three years traveling around the country. He got a job as a substitute teacher in Warsaw, Indiana, Fort Wayne Indiana and Louisville, Kentucky, but he soon got tired of those little hick towns and decided he go back to the Midwest. Esau Sneed felt good, he had fucked the shit out of that black bitch Ada, took her Cadillac Escapade and the bitch had over a thousand bucks in her purse. He remembered the old police officer who though he so fuckin’ smart and tried to put him in that dirty, smelly cell, but I got his ass, the dumb motherfucker forget the knife sitting on his desk that he was using to slice his lunchmeat, well no more lunch meat for him.“Well, where should I go, Chicago is a little too hot now, I sure would like to see the face on that mutherfucking, smart ass detective John Ringo with his smug ass,” Esau said aloud. Esau slightly opened the vehicle’s sun-roof and breathed in the warm late night air. He turned on the CD player and BB King Blues guitar filled the interior. He was driving west on Interstate 80 and passed the road sign that read, “Joliet 10 miles.” Esau talking aloud said “Joliet, never been there, might find some country pussy there.” In ten minutes he exited the Interstate and drove through the small city, stopped at a Mc Donald, went in an ordered a Big Mac, he sat at a table and looked around. The restaurant was filled with teen-agers white and black all giggling and acting like teen-agers. He noticed two young black girls in the group; one looked about fifteen and the other a little older. Esau watched and hoped that the two girls would leave their friends and he would follow them and maybe fuck them both, but after getting their food the group of teens, including the black girls piled into a beat-up Ford pickup and drove off.“Shit,” he whispered and walked up to an older black woman sitting at one of the tables and smiled.

ESAU
Hi, I'm new to the city and I’m trying to find a friend, where is the black folks in this town?

WOMAN
Most blacks live on the Southside, I would suggest you try Fairview Projects, someone might know him there

ESAU
How would I get there?

1 June 2012
Early the next morning Esau parked his vehicles three blocks from the Fairview Projects and walked. The Fairview was like the projects in Chicago or anywhere else in the country; worn-down buildings and worn-down people. Esau observed the children playing in the run down playground, a group of boys were playing basketball on a pot-holed basketball court that contained a net-less basketball rim, a group of young girls were jumping around a hopscotch board drawn in red crayon on the dirty concrete ground while others jumped rope. It was early June, but it was one of those rare warm and sunny days, not too hot, and the young children were taken advantage of it. He sat on an iron bench in front of a sixteen storied high rise building and looked up at the old women sitting on the balconies watching their grandchildren through the wire mess that encased the balcony. An older group of boys, wearing red and white Bulls caps were gathered together in front of another high rise waiting for darkness to resume their drug business. He noticed a young girl walk over to a bench and sit down; she had an arm full of books that she carefully spread out on the bench, Esau approached the girl and asked what she was reading.

YOUNG GIRL
I’m having a hard time with my algebra and I don’t understand the formulas

ESAU
Maybe I can help; I was always good at algebra

YOUNG GIRL (MOVING OVER)
My name is Deloris Whitfield, please sit down

ESAU
My name is Robert, let me see the book


Deloris handed him the book and in a few minutes he had solved the twenty questions she was assigned, Deloris was amazed.

DELORIS
How much would you charge to tutor me? I don’t have much money

ESAU
A smile

DELORIS (EXCITED)
When can we start, I’ve got to get a good grade, I‘m planning on going to college next year

ESAU
When do you want to start?

DELORIS
How about tomorrow afternoon, my grandmother goes to work at noon, so the apartment will be quiet

ESAU
I’ll meet you right here tomorrow at 1:00 pm


Deloris jumped off the bench grabbed her book and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Tomorrow my dear you will learn more than algebra,” Esau said to himself. During the three years since the X-Man escaped the Ist Deputy had quashed the complaint on Ringo and Evetta and Lieutenant O’Shea had been transferred to the Motor Maintenance Unit. There had been no more murders or rapes in the city that could be attributed to the Esau Sneed, but Ringo knew he was still out there, waiting. On Wednesday afternoon I was deeply involved in a chess game with Mike, the organizer of the Harvey, Illinois Library Chess Club. Mike was a club player and had a basic knowledge of the royal game, where I had a United States Chess Federation Master’s Rating.

MIKE
I finally got you Mr. Ringo

RINGO
Really, mate in three

MIKE (PUTTING ON IS GLASSES)
You’re crazy man I’m going to capture your bitch

Mike captured the queen but in three moves, he was mated.

MIKE
Shit, I thought I had you this time


My cell phone ranged.

EVETTA
I just talked with Cahill he said a report just came over VICAP, a young girl raped and murdered in Joliet, X carved in her chest

RINGO
Next time Mike, gotta go

A warm summer rain started to fall as I parked my Dodge Neon in the Police Headquarters at 35th South Wabash, Police Parking Lot. Evetta and Cahill were already in the office reading the teletype from the FBI. Cahill was very light skin, light brown hair cut short, over six feet and a solid two hundred pounds. He told us that he joined the US Marshals five years ago after he got discharged from the Marines and spent most of his time on the Marshal’s Apprehension Unit. Cahill pulled a folder out his brief case

CAHILL
This just came in, A young girl who lived in the Fairview Projects in Joliet was found murdered this morning, she had been raped and stabbed and a X was carved in her chest, sound familiar?

RINGO
Let’s go to Joliet
An hour later at one-thirty in the afternoon we pulled onto the fire-lanes at the Joliet Fairview Public Housing Projects in a predominately black section of the city that had 28 high-rise buildings with 16 stories each, with a total of over 4300 apartments mostly arranged in U-shaped clusters of three, and stretched for two mile, it was a large public housing project but was slowly being demolished. An angry crowd had gathered- a combination of drug dealers and gang bangers stood on the stoop and were held back by a cadre of uniformed Joliet Police officers in riot gear standing at the lobby door of the high rise building.

VOICE IN THE CROWD
All of you racist asshole cops need to get the fuck out our hood,” someone shouted.
“I live in that building, motherfucker.” a young woman screamed at the police blocking the door.

I showed my badge to a young, nervous looking white policeman his white face shield resting on top of his blue helmet. We entered the lobby of 124 South Jefferson and asked an officer what floor.

OFFICER
Apartment 10B and the elevator is out of order

We started up the urine soaked, dark and graffiti-marked stairwell passing other police officers. I was out of breath when we reached the tenth floor; more uniform officers were on the corridor and in front of apartment 10B. We entered the neatly furnished apartment and I saw an older woman sitting on a couch in the small front room, being comforted by a female officer, another police officer nodded towards the bathroom. In the bathroom a Crime Scene Investigator was examining the body while an evidence technician was snapping photos and another was writing notes. The victim was dark brown skinned and her hair was in corn curls, she looked to be in her late teens. She was naked and propped against the rim of the bathtub, a pair of pantyhose was tied tightly around her neck and duct tape covered her mouth. Carved between her budding breast and numerous stab wounds was a large X and a bloody X was scrawled on one wall. I looked at Evetta and we both knew that the X-Man had returned, I felt a knot in my stomach, a tremor of revulsion and recognition, I’ve seen this before. A Crime Scene Investigator pulled of his latex gloves and walked out the bathroom, Evetta and I followed.

EVETTA
What we got?

INVESTIGATOR
Black female, Deloris Whitfield, seventeen or eighteen, raped, stabbed and strangled have to wait until the ME get her on the table to find out cause of death, but looks like she been dead only hours, that‘s the grandmother Bertha Whitfield,” he said pointing to the front room.

As I headed into the front room to interview the grandmother

EVETTA
I’ll handle it

It never ceased to amaze me how my partner could sense my moods, she knew that somehow if the killer was the X-Man, I felt responsible for this young girl’s death, we had him, we had arrested him three years ago and somehow he had escaped after killing a police officer, I moved aside as she approached Bertha.

EVETTA
I’m Detective Evetta Lunden from Chicago, me and my partners Sergeant Ringo and US Marshall will be assisting the Joliet Police Department

Bertha’s eyes shifted to the bathroom as police officers were removing Deloris in a body bag, tears swelled in the grandmother’s eyes as the officers and her granddaughter left the apartment. Every police officer hate this moment when you have to intrude in a person’s most terrible moments, but it had to be done.

EVETTA
I hate to intrude at a time like this, but it’s important to gather as much information as possible, as quickly as possible, can I ask you a few questions, please?

BERTHA (WIPING HER EYES WITH A NAPKIN)
Yes

Bertha said that her granddaughter was an honor student and a senior at Joliet High School and she had raised her every since her mother and father was killed in a drive- by when she was two, Deloris had a scholarship to Indiana University and she wanted to be a social worker, she wanted to help the young girls living in the projects, she didn’t have a boyfriend or many girlfriends, she stayed mainly to herself studying and surfing the Internet.

EVETTA
Can you check her room and see if anything is missing?

We followed Bertha into Deloris bedroom, Bertha checked the closet and dresser drawers. She removed two one hundred dollar bills and showed them to Evetta and continued opening drawers. Bertha looked at Deloris neatly folded blouses and bras and opened the last drawer.

BERTHA
All of her panties and panty hose are gone

Evetta thanked Bertha and we left.


5 June 2012

The rape and murder of Deloris was on the national news and an when we returned to our office a crowd of reporters, black ministers and news crews stood in front of Police Headquarters confronting a Deputy Chief and demanding to know the latest on Deloris’s murder.

IRENE MUJHASI
Is this the X-Man, has he returned?
VOICE IN THE CROWD
What’s the department going to do to protect our black women

We pushed through the crowd without commenting and entered the building and went into Captain Woods office

WOODS
Bad?

RINGO
Yep, young high school girl, raped, stabbed and strangled, X carved into her body and smeared on a wall and panties missing.
WOODS
Sound like the X-Man?

RINGO
Why now, he’s been gone over a three years

WOODS
Who the fuck knows, maybe the urges got too strong for him to handle; he’s just a homicidal nut and by this evening every black leader in the city will be demanded to know what we’re going to do
I knew she was right, the city was already a racial cinder block and anything could ignite it.

WOODS
I got a call from Sergeant Hickman, Joliet Police Gang Unit, he’s got his guys out in Fairview talking to their informants, somebody has got to have seen something

RINGO
Believe me, Captain if, no, when we catch him this time he won’t get away again. I should have blown his fucking brains out when I had the chance

We returned to my office and Evetta poured coffee.

EVETTA
Think it’s him?

RINGO
It’s him!


8 June 2012
The little man sat on the bed in room 201 at the Joliet Motel naked except for Deloris’s pink lace panties. He swallowed a Valium and a Librium with a sip of Miller’s High Life beer and lay on the bed and began to masturbate, he thought of Deloris. He smiled as he remembered how he had fooled her into thinking he was going to help her with her algebra. How stupid she was, unable to figure out those elemental algebra questions. His mind drifted to how excited she was as she had let him into her apartment, all ready to be tutored; well he tutored her alright, with his dick. He remembered the shock on her face when he hit her knocking her out, duct taped her mouth and tied a pair of pantyhose around her neck. He remembered her tight and bloody pussy; it had been a long time since he had a virgin.
He remembered the wanton look in her eyes when she came to, she was really enjoying this lesson. The little man increased the rapidity of his masturbation and remembering how she looked when he let out a groan and ejaculated. He felt good; he popped an Ativan, downed it with a swig of beer, and fell asleep. The next morning Evetta, Cahill and I were at the Joliet Police Gang Unit drinking coffee with Sergeant Hickman. All night long I kept seeing the young girl with so much promise lying in the bathtub, violated and killed by a maniac.

SERGEANT HICKMAN
I remembered about two or three years ago getting a teletype of a serial killer in Chicago called the X-man, rape and killed young women and carved X’s into their bodies, think it’s the same asshole?

RINGO
Yep, we’re pretty sure it is

RINGO (SHAKING HIS HEAD)
One of my guys talked with an informant and was told that he saw a little dude talking with Deloris, the day before she was killed and he had never seen him before, no one paid any attention to him because he looked too small to be a cop. Matter-of-fact most of the homeboys were proud of Deloris and she recently been awarded a five thousand dollar college scholarship by the housing authority and the informant said that if he see the man again he‘ll let us know or they take care of him themselves

CAHILL
Any description


SERGEANT HICKMAN
Small man about five feet, one hundred fifty pounds, well built, long straight hair, sharp facial features, dark eyes and a coffee colored complexion

RINGO
Thanks Sarge

We returned to the projects, parked in the parking lot that had it share of broken down and semi--stripped vehicles and interviewed the residents in Deloris building and neighboring buildings, but the people living in this drug and gang infested area did not talk to the police, as we walked toward the building we were stopped by a police officer and handed us a copy of the Sun-Times Newspaper.

POLICE OFFICER
You guys seen this?

On the front page in bold headlines, “HAS THE SERIAL KILLER KNOWN AS THE X-MAN WHO ESCAPED FROM POLICE CUSTODY THREE YEARS AGO RETURNED?” The article was written by Irene Mujhasi, the black columnist who had been critical of the police investigation of the earlier X-Man killings, she accused the department and the city of not being concerned enough or exerting enough effort and resources in apprehending the X-Man since all of his victims were black and poor.I gave the paper back to the officer as we continued to apartment 10B and paid our respects to Bertha. There were three women in the kitchen, the smell of fried chicken, collard greens and cornbread filled the small apartment. Two older men sat in the front room with Bertha drinking beer, Bertha was sitting on the couch next to another older woman. I feel sorry for her, but she still maintained a certain dignity probably because in her life-time she had witnessed too many senseless deaths. Bertha introduced us to Deloris cousins and uncles and one of the ladies brought us a cup of coffee, Evetta again took the lead as we sat on the couch.

EVETTA
Just want to keep you up to date, we’ve got a good description of a suspect and our investigation revealed that no one had broken in to your apartment we think Deloris let the killer in. You told us that she didn‘t have many friends, why do you think she would let someone come in?

BERTHA
I don’t know, Deloris knew how dangerous this place is and after I would leave for work she would double lock the door

EVETTA
What time did you leave for work

BERTHA
I usually leave around noon

RINGO
What time did you get home?

BERTHA (CRYING)
Around eleven-thirty, that’s when I found Deloris

EVETTA
Again our deepest condolences’ and we will keep you informed

BERTHA
Thank you officers


MAN DRINKING BEER
When you catch the son-of-a bitch let me and Clyde have two minutes with him

RINGO
I might do that, after I’ve had my two minutes with him

20 June 2012- 5422 SOUTH WABASH
After leaving Joliet Esau Sneed returned to Chicago and drove to 54th South Wabash Avenue, a run-down warehouse section of the city. Esau parked Ada’s car and walked slowly along the dark street; this time of night, in this neighborhood the streets was deserted. He passed an alley where a group of homeless winos stood around a blazing fire in a garbage can drinking. Most of the warehouses were abandoned and shorted-out electrical signs advertising the businesses had long ago burned out, a three storied apartment building stood like a sentinel in the break neighborhood. He had been here before and knew that the second and third floor was empty and the resting place for the homeless people when the weather was cold and had no place else to go, he also knew that a prostitute, Debra Allen lived alone on the first floor and she used her apartment to entertain her customers. Debra wasn‘t especially attractive but had a nice body that she was more than willing to display in short, tight skirts and low-cut blouses. He knew her routine; she left home at 9:00 pm, walked two blocks to the CTA elevator station, had a drink at Pete’s Joint and then went to work, she never altered her routine. When and if she found a customer she would walk them back to her apartment, she must be good Esau thought because usually in an half hour she was back walking, but tonight he knew she would be busy a little longer. Pete’s Joint was a typical neighbor bar located on the ground floor of a three flat building, rat and roach infected apartments were on the second and third floor. Esau entered and smelled the familiar stench of dry rot and fermenting urine that was so common in these old Chicago neighborhoods bars in the black community. The exterior consisted of a Budweiser sign that blinked on and off over a wooden door. The outside wall was painted dull gray and surrounded a grimy, bullet proof Plexiglas window. The inside walls looked like it had never been painted and the worn hardwood floor was a dirty brown. The u-shaped oak bar had ten bar-seats and was pitted with the marks of forgotten cigarettes. A few small tables were haphazardly scattered around and behind the bar on a lopsided shelf stood a bottle of Gordon’s Gin, Dmitry Vodka and a bottle of unlabeled rum. A juke box sat against one wall and an old, patched up pool table sat in the middle of the room. A telephone booth sat against another wall with an “OUT OF ORDER,” sign posted on the door, Esau sat down and waited to be served. There were only three other customers; one had his head on the bar and was snoring and the other two sat at a booth in the back. The bartender whom name tag read “Oscar,” was sitting on a stool behind the bar drinking an orange colored drink and reading a racing form.

OSCAR (HEAD DOWN)
What do you want?

Esau ordered a beer and Oscar poured him a warm Miller’s Lite sat it down on the bar and continued reading. At nine-fifteen he glanced out the grimy window and was just able to make out Debra swaggering towards the bar; she walked in and sat on a barstool two stools from him. She ordered a gin and water and turned towards him. She slightly opened her legs and he could see her brown thighs and pantyhose, she smiled and he smiled back.

DEBRA (SMILING)
Want a good time?

ESAU
If it’s not too much

DEBRA (DOWNING HER DRINK)
It won’t be I promise

Esau put his warm beer on the bar and said, “Let’s go.” As they walked in silence, Debra thought to herself, “This trick isn’t bad-looking, short but well-built and strong looking, he might be a good fuck, she was tired of those limp-dick motherfuckas that she had to spend a lot of time sucking on their dicks to get it hard and when they finally did come, it was like a dripping water faucet, maybe this time she could get a nut, she needed one. They arrived at her building and she led him into the lobby. The terrible stench nearly overwhelmed him, he wanted to leave but he felt the stirring in his loins and he knew he needed a release. She grabbed his hand and led him into her apartment; a bare bed in the center of the room was covered with threadbare and soiled sheets which, lay across a ragged mattress. Brownish worn carpet was stained with spilled liquor and stomped out cigarette butts. He took in the stench of soiled clothes, unwashed bodies and dishes, he felt nauseas, but he held it back.

ESAU
I have to use the bathroom

DEBRA
First door to your right, sweetie


Debra began taking off her sweater and revealed drooping breasts, Esau smiled as he continued to the washroom. The toilet was unflushed and a blob of shit was in the bathtub. The throbbing between his legs got stronger; he had to release the fullness in his penis. He dry swallowed a Valium and a Librium and immediately felt better. When he returned to the front room Debra was removing her tattered skirt and stood, turned around and smiled. Esau saw the brown stains in the rear of her flimsy white panties, still smiling Debra pulled the front of the panties down exposing her hairless pubic area.

DEBRA (RUBBING ESAU’S PENIS)
I’m a naughty girl. See you ready for some action ten bucks is not too much for the fuck of your life is it?

Esau didn’t answer but sprung like a jungle cat striking Debra in the face with his fist, blood sprayed from her nose and mouth as she fell backward on the bed, her fingernails lashed out cutting his face.


ESAU
Dirty, fuckin’ whore

Debra face was contorted with fear and anger as she flung her thin arms in the air, Esau saw the tracks the needles had made and in the struggle Debra caught his ear between her nails and squeezed, Esau howled and with his right hand he grabbed her thin throat and began to choke her, she twisted loose and hit Esau upside the head with something, he felt dizzy and felt the blood dripping down his forehead, and his head hurt terribly. He got out his knife, but suddenly weak arms were around his waist.

MAN
What you doing mutherfucka

The man’s wine so breathe was suffocating. Esau released Debra and struck the man holding him, the man staggered, Esau looked around and saw two of the neighborhood bums. The other man was rail-thin and Esau knocked him down as he ran out the apartment. Once outside he saw a police car cruising, he walked slowly as the police vehicle passed. His head was throbbing and his face was bloody. He popped a Valium and wiped the blood from his face, “No pussy tonight,” he said to himself and laughed aloud as he drove away and headed towards Interstate 80 West.

CAHILL
Interviewed a couple of the workers at the construction site and was told that Ada drove a black Escalade, it still hasn’t been located

EVETTA
Ten to one Esau took it, I’ll check the DMV for a license and VIN number also just got a call from Sergeant Bill Turner, 2nd District Vice Officer and he told me that there was an attempt rape of a whore at 5422 Wabash, could not be connected at all to our guy, but what was interesting was the description; small man, very handsome, maybe we should interview her

RINGO
Sounds good, but let do it tomorrow, okay?

Evetta looked at Ringo and could sense he wasn’t feeling well. Evetta Lunden was assigned as Ringo’s Field Training Officer after he graduated from the Chicago Police Training Academy. She was a big woman; over six feet and Ringo estimated that she had to weight close to 200 solid pounds; she was twenty years older than him and getting close to the magical retirement age of fifty. Over the six months of his probationary period he was impressed with her street knowledge and take charge attitude and they became good friends. Her husband Clarence was a high school teacher and like Ringo a former Navy Seal. Evetta never wanted to be a sergeant or even a detective; she was content working as a patrol officer and she taught him how to be a street policeman and she was impressed with my quick mind, aggressiveness and willingness to learn. After his probationary period they were assigned to the vice squad which required long and irregular hours and the assignment began to put a strain his marriage. Being young his wife Elizabeth didn’t believe him when he would leave home in the middle of the night to catch a dope dealer or prostitute who usually worked at night, she accused him of having a girlfriend and became suspicious of Evetta, they divorced in 1999. Ringo enrolled in the Criminal Justice Program at Chicago State University but dropped out after September 11, 2001 and joined the United States Navy and eventually became a Navy Seal. In 2005 he was discharged from the Navy and returned to the Chicago Police Department, pursued his education and was awarded a PhD in 2007.

EVETTA (PUTTING HER ARM UNDER RINGO’S)
Okadoke, listen you go home and try to get some rest, I’ll pick you up in the morning

Evetta dropped Ringo at his building. Ringo was tired and his leg hurt, he maybe had an hour sleep since they found Deloris, but he had to keep going he had to catch this monster. Ringo took the elevator to his apartment and took off his shoes as pain shot from his leg to his brain. The Navy doctor who treated him told him that later on he would probably develop arthritis. He rubbed some of the ointment on the scar on his leg, laid across the large couch in the living room and closed his eyes as Piper snuggled up beside him. Images of all the killed and raped young women, Reverend Wilson, the man in the church and the police locker keeper flooded his thoughts. Ringo knew that his job was to arrest the X-Man and let a judge and jury decide his fate but he wanted the X-Man dead. He had seen too many cases where homicidal maniac with smart lawyers had gotten off and sentenced to a mental health facility, this was not going to happen with Esau Sneed. The following morning Evetta and Ringo met with Debra and her two saviors at a restaurant on East 55th Street. Evetta told them to order whatever they wanted the Chicago Police Department would pick up the bill. They ordered a big breakfast and they ate like they hadn’t had a good meal in days, Evetta and Ringo only had coffee. After finishing the meal and wiping her mouth with her sleeve Debra related the incident and how she had fought the man off, Claudius and Billy stated their part in the rescue and how strong the little man was.

BILLY
Yep he was a strong little fucker, damn near knocked me down

EVETTA (PLACING A PHOTO OF ESAU ON THE TABLE)
Is this him?

Debra, Claudius and Billy mouths were too full to talk but they nodded their heads. I called Cahill and he took them to headquarters for a formal statement. I returned to my office, lay on the too small couch and dozed off but was awaken by Captain Woods.


WOODS
Think we got another one, young girl in Ottawa found by her brother, Evetta and Cahill waiting in the parking lot

CAHILL
Vic is Rhonda Flemmings, white, sixteen, good student, found by brother Jean, seventeen when he came home from school at three thirty, address 321 Westmort Road,” Cahill read from a folder as Evetta activated the emergency equipment, I checked my watch it was five. We arrived at the scene in forty-five minutes

1 July 2012
Ottawa, Illinois is about ninety miles from Chicago and maybe forty from Joliet. It’s a small, clean little town with friendly people who main entertainment is fishing and boating in the Illinois River. 321 Westmort Road is a small middle-class, integrated public housing development that consisted of row houses, in a cul-de-sac that had three neat, well- maintained houses. Rhonda house sat on an acre lot with a manicured front and rear yard, a 14 foot fishing boat sat on a trailer in the driveway. We identified ourselves to the police officer behind the yellow tape and he called a man over.

POLICE OFFICER
Chief this is Sergeant John Ringo and Detective Lunden from the Chicago Police and US Marshal Cahill

CHIEF
Chief Walker Watson, Ottawa Police Department

RINGO
What happened here Chief


CHIEF (LOWERING HIS HEAD)
I interviewed the brother Jean, good kid, quarterback of the high school football team, anyway he said that Rhonda had a cold all week and stayed home from school. Mother Alice and father Robert dropped him off at school around nine, he said that he call his sister during lunch break and she said she was feeling better and asked him to bring home a can of soup. When he got home, she wasn’t in her room, he called out, but got no answer, he noticed the upstairs bathroom door was ajar and when he went he found her nude in the bathtub, she looked like she had been stabbed, a pair of her panty hose were around her neck and a large X was cut in her chest and smeared on the bathroom mirror. We received a teletype from Joliet advising us of the murder and rape, there, think it‘s the same guy

RINGO
I know it is

We arrived back in Chicago around six and met with Captain Woods.

RINGO
Seems like Esau has changed his MO, first white victim

CAHILL
First Joliet, now Ottawa all west on Interstate 80 heading towards Iowa, what the hell is he planning to rape and kill all the way to California?


WOODS
We received the info on Ada vehicle and I’ve put out an all points on it

CAHILL
I’ll contact the Marshal Service and have the FBI send out an alert

RINGO
Better make it all the way to California

23 June 2012
Esau drove west on I-80 drinking beer and popping pills. It was starting to get dark and he was hungry, he exited the interstate at Peru and parked in the Shake and Steak lot. He ordered a hamburger, small vanilla shake and a small chili and took a seat. The young fresh face waitress smiled as she worked the room wearing short red and white skirts and blouse. The waitress waiting on him was very attractive; blond hair pinned in a bun, big tits and a nice ass, her name tag read “Peg.” Peg was friendly and smiled as she served her customers, when she delivered his food he gave her a big smile, she returned the smile and placed the food on the table. Esau felt the rising, “Boy I sure would like some of that,” he thought to himself, “Maybe I should wait.” Esau ate the meal slowly and checked his watch, “Eleven-thirty, she probably get off at twelve,” he though. At eleven forty-five the waitress, came to his table.

PEG
I’m getting ready to get off; can I get you anything else?

Yes, you can serve me some hot pussy,” he thought, but he said, “No thanks Peg, keep the change” and handed her a twenty dollar bill. The waitress gave him a big smile and said, “Thank you.”Esau decided he would wait until she left, then he would get her. Peg came out from behind the counter smiled at him again and walked over to a big young man, they got into a new Ford pickup, kissed and drove off. “Shit,” Esau said as he left the restaurant. “Fuck, I’m too tired to fuck anyway, he said to himself as he pulled into the Motel 8 parking lot.

Two weeks later, fearing that Esau Sneed was on a country wide crime wave, the FBI and Homeland Security formed a task force. The task force was housed in an abandon warehouse at 615 West 51st Street and consisted of FBI agents, State Police Detectives and members of my team. Homeland Security with its unlimited budget had provided flat screen monitors, a state- of- the-art communication center and new high tech computers. The Supervising Agent in charge or SAC, Timothy Roth was a typical agent, over six feet, well toned body, short graying hair and rim-rod straight. His apparel was also typical FBI; wing tip shoes, white shirt, dark blue suit and dark tie.
Roth was seated at the head and in a booming voice he said, “We received a teletype from our Iowa office that stated that we believe that Esau Sneed, aka, the X-Man raped and killed three young women, one in Peru, Illinois names Peggy Allison, she worked at the Steak and Shake in Peru, she was fifteen and white, one in Des Moines, Iowa, seventeen and black and the latest in Omaha Nebraska, seventeen, black.
All of the victims were brutally beaten, raped and stabbed and all had the trademark X carved into their chest. We don’t know where he’s headed, but it appears that he’s traveling West on Interstate 80. Hopefully, a state trooper will spot the vehicle and arrest him, but until that happens I’ve notified all of our offices to be on the look-out, we‘ll use this office as our command operations station.”
I felt the beating in my chest, bile surged and rumbled in my stomach like a big bowling ball heading for the gutter, my skin felt cold and I shivered, I wanted to go after this monster that had killed three more young innocent women. Me and other members of the task force sat around the office all day, monitoring the FBI VICAP SYSTEM, talking to police departments throughout southwest Illinois until five pm, but nothing happened no word from the state police or police departments and for the time being no more murders.
At six pm Roth came into the room and in a loud voice, said, “I have set up a management group; one group, the intelligence group will collect, process, analyze leads we receive. John Ringo, Evetta Luden and the Special Case members will lead the investigative group and respond to any crime scenes involving the X-Man but enough for today, go home and get some rest, see you in the morning.”
We all gathered up our papers and belonging and headed for the door. When we reached the lobby Cahill said, “Let’s go for a drink, there’s a nice little bar just down the street,”
Evetta and I agreed and he led us to the Federal Inn. The Federal Inn was one of those downtown bars that catered to young, baby blooming semi-professional, lawyers, CEO’s and attractive people who wanted to be seen or to net-work. The thirty foot bar was made of solid oak surrounded by high back cushioned bar seats. A large mirror was positioned behind the bar so the customers could check themselves out, a forty-five inch flat screen televisions was mounted from the ceiling. The men wore black power suits and ordered expensive cognacs, the woman wore dark business suits or stylist dresses and sipped white wine, everyone seemed to be carrying Torino Briefcases that probably cost a weeks’ salary.
We sat and in a few minutes Avery Johnson and Adrea Printiss, other members of the task force joined us. The Inn’s piano player started playing one of those bar song that seemed to have no end or beginning and no one seemed to be listening too. After a few drinks, Adrea said to Cahill, “You can play better than that, ask him to let you sit in.”
Cahill blushed and shook his head, without saying another word Adrea got up and walked over to the piano, she said a few words to the piano player him and waived Cahill over, reluctantly he went to the piano. The bar crowd was feeling pretty good and was talking loud. Cahill sat down and started playing, his first number was Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It on,” he followed it with Ray Charles, “Georgia On My Mind,” The crowd got quiet and listened as he played more Motown Hits, when he got up he got a round of applause and someone sent a round of drinks to our table.
“That was great, you should have been a piano player instead of a fed,” I said.
“My mother and father were musicians, I started playing the piano when I was five and graduated from Julliard, in college I played with the college jazz band and we did sets at some of the clubs, but it wasn’t enough action for me, I think that’s why I joined the Marines and the Marshal Service.”
I arrived at home about ten and flopped into my bed and for the first time in a long time I felt relaxed and finally got a good night sleep, maybe it was the drinks or just getting away from the case.

6 July 2012
It had been a couple of weeks since Esau’s last rape and murder in Ottawa and he was getting restless, plus his money was running out, he needed gas and more important he needed his drugs. Most of the small towns he passed through the drug of choice were methamphetamine, not crack and definitely not the prescription drugs. He didn’t care for the side effects of methamphetamine; dizziness, blurred vision and always made him feel tired, he liked the rush he got from crack and the pills, he turned around on I-80 and headed east. The following morning I awoke with a slight headache. It had been a long since I had that much to drink and I was paying for it. I downed a couple of aspirins and two cups of strong coffee and headed for the office. The task force was assembled and Evetta handed me cup of espresso.

EVETTA
Good for the morning after

She was right the bitter, strong coffee chased away the groggy feeling and I felt better as I joined the group. SAC Roth came into the room and read from a teletype, “Just got a teletype from the Kankakee Police Department, mom and pop gas station held up by a little man with a knife, couple tied up and the older woman fondled, but no one hurt, offender filled up his car with gas, took three hundred dollars from register and was driving a black Cadillac Escapade, we only got three numbers of the plates but it matched our guy.

RINGO
I think he’s on his way back to Chicago!

It was after ten when Esau pulled into what was left of the Robert Taylor Housing Projects. Most of the high rises had been demolished and the few remaining was controlled by the Bulls gang, 43rd Street Hustlers he looked around at the hooded figures standing in the shadows but he didn‘t know any of them and he knew they wouldn‘t sell him anything. He drove to 43rd street, parked and entered the dark alley under the CTA elevator and saw Moe a dealer he had done business with before. Moe came out the shadows and approached.

MOE
My man, where you been, long time?

ESAU
Traveling, you holding?

MOE
What you need?

ESAU
Three rocks got any scrips?

MOE
Just some Ativan

ESAU
Okay, give me a dozen

Moe disappeared and in a moment returned with the drugs. Esau gave Moe five twenty dollars bills and left the alley. The following morning Evetta got a call from William “Bull” Jones.

BULL
Mama, I think your little guy is back, just made a buy with one of my guys on 43rd Street

EVETTA
What did he cop?

BULL
Three rocks and some Ativan

EVETTA
How long you take that will last him?

BULL
Two, three days at the most

EVETTA
Thanks, I owe you

BULL
Like I told you before, you owe me zip

Evetta called me and we went outside the building.

EVETTA
Just got a call from Bull, you was right he is back, just copped some drugs from Bull‘s guy

RINGO (EXCITED)
Where?

EVETTA
43rd Street

RINGO
Let’s keep this to ourselves, Okay?

Evetta looked at me and knew that I wanted him and knew what I planned to do.

EVETTA
You got it John

For the next two nights Evetta and I observed the alley at 43rd South Prairie Avenue, nothing, but on the third night a Black Cadillac Escalade slowly cruised down the deserted Street, it parked at 43rd South Calumet and a little man got out, looked around and slowly walked to the alley.
I told Evetta to go into the alley from 44th Street.

EVETTA
You know what you’re doing John?

RINGO
I’m sure, and I don’t want you involved

Evetta didn’t argue as she got out and beginning walking down Prairie Avenue, she turned looked at me and mouthed, “Be careful.”
I nodded as Esau entered the alley, waited a minute and followed; Esau was talking to a hooded figure in the alley when I approached.

RINGO
Remember me?

ESAU (SQUINTING HIS EYES)
Who you?

RINGO
Your worst nightmare

I saw Evetta as she entered the alley, weapon in her hand.

RINGO (LOOKING AT THE HOODED FIGURE
Split

HOODED FIGURE
I’m gone

ESAU
Who the fuck is you?

RINGO
You don’t remember me, huh. Do you remember the old lockup keeper you killed, do you remember all the young women you violated and killed, do you remember Reverend Wilson?

ESAU
You!

RINGO
Yep and this is the end of the line for your little ass

ESAU
OK arrest me, cop muthafuckas

Esau lunged at me, I side stepped him and delivered a hard right into his stomach, he howled in pain and doubled over, when he came up he popped open a switch-blade and smiled.

ESAU
I‘m going to carve your black ass up like I did those bitches and that fuckin’ preacher

He lunged again swinging the knife, he was quick as a cat and cut me on the sleeve, but as a former Navy Seal I was well trained in hand-to hand combat, I sidestepped again and stood facing him. He had a sardonic smile on his face as we circled each other.

EVETTA (SCREAMING)
Shoot the motherfucker

I didn‘t want to shoot him, that would be too quick, too easy, I wanted him to suffer, to feel pain. I saw the red light from Evetta Gluck centered on his chest

RINGO
No I yelled at her

Esau made another lunge with the knife I grabbed his arm twisted it and heard it snap as he dropped the knife and yell as the pain penetrated his drug induced brain. I flip him around and in a choke hold slowly squeezed, he twisted and tried to get free, but I had him. I continued squeezing and whispered in his ear.

RINGO
This is how they felt as you slowly choked the life out of them.

Esau continued struggling for a while and then became still. I applied more pressure and heard his neck snap. I let him go and he fell lifeless on the dirty ground

EVETTA
You ok?

RINGO
Yep, just a scratch

EVETTA
What we’re going to do with him?

I looked at the monster, his beautiful face had an angelic glow and his eyes were open. I grabbed his legs and pulled him behind some overflowing garbage cans.

RINGO
Let the rats have him

Two days later, garbage men found the body, partly eaten by the street animals. Later that day I purchased a Sun-Times Newspaper and in the bold black headlines on the front page read: “MAN FOUND IN ALLEY ON SOUTH 43RD STREET, PRELIMINARY REPORTS INDICATE MAN MAYBE ESAU SNEED KNOW AS THE X-MAN.”

The following morning Evetta and I met in Deputy Gult office with Captain Woods.

WOODS
What do you think happened in that alley?

RINGO (SHAKING HIS HEAD)
Probably a drug deal that went bad

The captain looked at me.

WOODS
Yeah, probably, by the way Deputy Gult is expected to be named Chief of Police later today and the deputy told me to tell you, you are the acting CO of the Bureau, congratulations

Evetta and I left the building.

RINGO
This calls for a celebration, where you want to go?

She put her arm undermines and said, “You’re coming to my house to see your godsons and my husband, I will fix you a home cook meal, you pop for the wine. “Deal,” I said.


END

Impressum

Tag der Veröffentlichung: 08.06.2010

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