Tired new chapter.
Chapter 14: November 25nd – New York – Morning
Six AM,
the sun hasn’t bothered to come up yet and Joseph Pierre is awake looking up at
the dark beige ceiling trying to make out if the spots on the roof are water
stains or just shadows from the outside window peeking through. His hotel room
is a simple one bedroom with a bathroom attached to it, in his beige coloured
room is a 38” television a few feet away from the foot of the bed. To the right
side of Joseph between the bed and a window is a side table where he puts his
wallet, phone, and loose change every night. Joseph’s been up since 3AM.
Tonight’s nightmare revolved around the lack of communication between Cassandra
and him, he couldn’t help but feel something bad has happened to her. The last
time he spoke to her she was in the Hospital and it was a confusing conversation,
which ended with her saying “I hope you’re happy with her.” Since then he hasn’t
been able to reach her, and Kat just tells him to Fuck Off every time he tries reaching out to her. Joseph hasn’t been able to go back to
sleep since he woke up from his nightmare.
Joseph spent
his time lying in his bed planning today’s events in his head. He’ll show up at
9am to the 27th precinct, sync up with Michael, Mach, and Kwok about
what happened over the weekend and work from there. He still hasn’t come up
with a solid reason why he has footage of Paul O’Healy’s granddaughter’s murder
and why he believes the Fox Tail strip club is the Angel’s next target. For
some reason he doesn’t think magic and psychics is good enough evidence for him
to argue with Michael they should dedicate police resources to the hole in the
wall strip club for protection.
Joseph reaches over and checks his smart phone; it’s a few minutes past six. He unplugs his charger and raises the smart phone above his head as he lays down starring at the notification area where New Messages should appear, he had none. He sighed, opening up Facebook to browse Cassandra’s page for any activity in the past few days, there wasn’t none. It was normal for Cassandra, she barely uses her computer. Her sister Kat on the other hand is plenty active on social media but has blocked Joseph from viewing every single one of her profiles, so he isn’t able to keep any tabs on them. It hasn’t occurred to him that this must be how Cassandra and Kat felt when he ran off on them last year. Not giving up yet, he picks up the phone and calls Cassandra scared that she may be hurt. He didn’t take into consideration that it’s only 3am in Vancouver, which is why he got her voice mail.
“Hey
Cass, it’s Joseph. Just checking in on your recovery, hopefully everything is
going well. I know things have been crazy but… Anyways, get back to me at
428-574-7385 or send me an e-mail or something… Thanks.” He ends the call.
Being able to reach voicemail gave him some comfort, it meant his number wasn’t
blocked and he can still get hold of her. Ever since visiting Natalie on
Saturday, he felt that she was his anchor. Even when he left for two years to
move back home to Montreal he still talked to her, it’s the constant
communication with her for those two years that kept him on the good side of
his humanity and not the dark pit that Paul O’Healy and Natalie sees whenever
they see Joseph.
Joseph
waits in bed for a few more minutes before getting up to walk towards the
shower. Once in the bathroom he kicks off his underwear he wore to bed and steps
into the shower. He slowly turns the water on carefully; he didn’t need to be
blasted with extreme hot or cold water within the first few seconds of
showering. The water hits him a bit hot, and he lets out a deep breath quickly getting
used to the temperature. Once comfortable he bangs his head on the glass sliding
door leaving it there as his eyes try and close on him, he wishes he got the
three hours of sleep he missed out on.
After
getting out of the shower, brushing his teeth, and drying himself off, he heads
back into the main part of his room. He sees the light on his phone blinking
letting him know he has missed messages. He walks over, towel wrapped around
his waist and sits on the bed playing with his phone. He puts it on speaker
phone, inputs his security code for voice mail, and sets it down on the bed as
he gets dressed. The familiar Irish voice of Paul O’Healy speaks.
“Hey
Joseph, it’s me. We’ve got a situation that some of us just discovered, need
you to get in here ASAP before the general population wakes up.” The message
ends. It isn’t the message Joseph was hoping to her, but at least this gives
him something to do instead of sitting in his room for another three hours
before his shift started. He flops back on the bed wrestling with his black
pants. After getting them around his
waist he reaches up for his phone and dials O’Healy’s number, putting it back
on speaker phone.
“Yeah?”
O’Healy answered loudly. Joseph is off the bed standing up, doing the buttons
on his pants.
“Hey It’s
Joseph, what’s going on?” Joseph asked, wanting a good idea of what he’s
getting into before walking into the office.
“The
Angel struck again. It’s a pretty bad one.” The voice of O’Healy didn’t sound
concerned, in fact he almost sounded a bit happy on the phone. Joseph is
confused by the statement and he thought of the one place he knows the Angel is
going to strike.
“Shit, is
it the Fox Tail?” Joseph asked, thinking that he may’ve been too late to react
on Natalie’s vision. He thought he would have a few days. If the Angel did
attack the Fox Tail while he rested yesterday, he would be blaming himself
throughout the whole case.
“No? Why
would it be the fucking Fox Tail? I said come into work, trust me you’ll see it
on your way.” O’Healy hung up, sounding a bit frustrated near the end of the
call. Joseph wondered why Michael wasn’t the one who called him in; it was
questions for a later time. Joseph finished putting his clothes on and heads
out the door wearing black pants, runners, and a black circular-arty designed
work shirt with a long black jacket covering it up. Joseph left the evidence he
had in his apartment, seeming that he’ll be working on something as soon as he
enters work. He’ll pick it up later when everyone is in.
Joseph
left the apartment building and he can already see the commotion several blocks
away. A police helicopter can be heard hovering over a large business 50 storey
building belonging to Cyrus Communications, a building that is right across
from the police station. The morning is still dark, and clouds seem to have
gathered around the sky indicating possible showers later, but for now the
darkness hinders the investigation as Joseph sees they’re setting up lights on
the roof of Cyrus Communications. People who are already up for work and school
are already looking towards the building from the streets, the helicopter and
lights can be seen from blocks away. Joseph even more curious to what’s going
on calls Michael, leaving a voice message on his machine.
“Hey
Michael, it’s Joseph Pierre. Just wondering where you are. Paul O’Healy called
me into the office early. Anyways if you’re not coming in for a bit you mind
swinging by my office or my room at Rosewood Hotel? I have some stuff that may
be useful for the investigation.” He hangs up after leaving the message and
calls Paul O’Healy next.
“I see
the commotion on the roof. What’s going on?” Joseph asked, before Paul O’Healy
can give him a proper answer. Joseph jaywalks when he can, getting to the scene
of the crime faster.
“It’s
one of those things that you thought you seen it all.” O’Healy says.
“Is
Michael there?”
“You can
say he is, but he’s a bit tied up at the moment.” O’Healy responds. Joseph
hangs up the phone. He was only a few minutes away and didn’t need O’Healy
playing riddles with him again like he did when Joseph first came to New York
when he forgot to mention the Angel killed his granddaughter and he has video
evidence of the culprit.
Joseph
walks onto 27th Street, noticing a police road block blocking 27th
street. The road block just blocks the same block as the 27th precinct
and Cyrus Communications building, just so no pedestrian cars or traffic gets
by as police officers run back and forth from the station to the business
building across the street, something interesting was going down.
“Hey I
need in, Special Unit.” Joseph says flashing his badge to the two policemen
manning the blockade. One of them is a young Asian Male, the other one an older
Black female. They let him through the blockade without any issues.
“So what
did they find up there?” Joseph asked, pointing towards the roof of Cyrus
Communications which is nearly fifty floors up from the ground.. The African
American officer answers his question.
“They
found a few dead police officers up there early this morning. They nearly
called everyone in for this, apparently it didn’t look to pretty and had to be
taken down before anyone civilians saw. It’s pretty controversial.”
“Michael
Morrow is dead isn’t he?” Joseph asked. He put two and two together just when
the woman said they found dead police officers. It would make sense now for
Paul O’Healy to call him in, and why he sounded pleased over the phone. O’Healy
didn’t like his former protégé partly because he took credit for O’Healy’s bust
a few years ago and the awful rumors surrounding his greasy palms with mob
families like the Gillis family. Joseph didn’t grow to attach to Michael, but
it sucks when a brother in arms, a colleague dies in the line of duty.
“Yeah,
him and Jane Brockbank were found up there.” The Asian officer said. Joseph
didn’t know who Jane is, but said his thanks before rushing towards the crime
scene in Cyrus Communications.
Cyrus
Communications is one of those big office buildings that the telecom agency
owns and lease out floors to other businesses. The ground floor serves as a
help desk/security, it’s a large open space with chairs and tables, a large security
and secretary desk and behind them is a dozen elevators waiting to pick people
up and shuttle them to their floor. The ground floor which is usually busy from
early morning to late at night is filled with police officers. Crime scene tape
blocks off a good chunk of the ground floor near security’s desk, several
officers, forensic scientists and the like are crowding around in the center of
the taped off area. Joseph walks up to see the commotion of the scene.
The body
itself is a few feet away from the security desk. The man on the floor is in
his late fifties and worked night time security for Cyrus Communications. The
officers gathering around the scene mention the name Tim Fellows as the man’s
name. Joseph couldn’t tell what killed the man, and the police officers weren’t
talking anything other than the victim. He waited for a few seconds before
proceeding up to the roof, that’s where the real commotion is.
Joseph
heads up to one of the many elevators and takes it to the 50th
floor, a floor often reserved for Cyrus Communication executives. He wondered
around the floor looking for an exit door that leads up the roof, once he found
it he walks outside and up the stairs to the roof of the building. The wind up
on the roof is a bit stronger, a bit colder, and unpleasant. Joseph digs his
hands deep inside his pocket and walks towards Paul O’Healy who is standing in
the middle of the roof smoking a cigarette bundled up in a large warm jacket.
In front
of Paul O’Healy is nearly a dozen police officers putting a large blanket over
an object that two standing lights are pointing at. The object is 7 feet tall,
and isn’t that wide. Joseph looks to O’Healy and speaks.
“I know
Michael and another officer is dead. I’m assuming that’s them.” He said
casually, the police officers lifted the now covered object off its post and
laid it on the ground.
“Yup.
Recovered a few things to, a note directed to the police department and some
bullshit manifesto. It’s pretty much the same bloody thing.” Paul O’Healy said,
he didn’t sound like he had remorse for the police officers, just that he’s
grumpy and annoyed.
“Ah I
see…” Joseph said, walking towards the covered object to see what they have.
Paul O’Healy walked with him, still wanting to talk to him.
“I
brought you up here to avoid this Joseph. You were supposed to finish him by
now.” O’Healy said viciously.
“Yes,
but most of the time people cooperate with me when I help them. Let’s see what’s
under here.” Joseph snapped his fingers at the two officers to remove the
blanket covers for now. Underneath the blanket is an 8 foot cross, on one side
of the cross Jane naked, crucified on the cross. Her chest has been cut up and
her breasts have been removed, her body is covered in blood and is held onto
the cross by nails and computer wiring tying her securely by the hands, waist,
feet, and neck. On top of Jane’s head is a crown of computer wires, mimicking the
crown of thorns. On the other side of
the cross is Michael, also crucified on the cross and held in the same manor
but doesn’t wear a crown of wires nor is he naked/castrated like Jane has.
“What
the fuck?” Joseph asked looking at the two police officers sharing the same
cross. Paul O’Healy shrugs.
“Honestly,
no other guy I wanted more nailed to a cross. But the woman? Officer Jane
Brockbank, beat detective. I already have people working on how she’s connected
starting out with her last calls.” Joseph nods, this should open up tons of
leads.
“What
about the security cameras from the ground floor and elevator?” Joseph asks.
“Being
taken care of now, we’ll have a nice clear picture of the man later today, he’ll
be dead by tomorrow. He has nowhere to run now.” Paul O’Healy states proudly,
he is sure of himself that the end of the Angel shooter is soon at the end.
Joseph walks around the police site, looking through the bags of evidence. When
he finds something he is looking for he puts on gloves before taking out the
note to police officers from the plastic bag. The Note said..
Dear New York’s Finest.
I know you may take exception to
this, most of you probably feel angry for what I’ve done. But it’s a warning to
you that you do not protect or uphold God’s Law, I do. Cross me again and I’ll
do much more than sending a message.
-
Angel of Death
Joseph put the note back. He
went to pull out the manifesto of this Angel of Death but as he did his phone
rang, It was Agent Mach.
“Hey, I think I got something. Sending an e-mail now. His name
is Thomas Worthington, apparently he is the son of Police Chief Wayne Worthington. Thomas was
found to have stolen several items from his dad’s locker. It’s possible he may
be the person who stole the weapons and supplied them to our shooter? I’ll be
back later today with a full report.” The phone call is quick, it served its
purpose on letting Joseph know that Mach found something. Within several
seconds new mail appeared onto his phone.
Joseph opened it up, and it looked exactly like the man in Paul
O’Healy’s video. Joseph rushes towards Paul O’Healy who is instructing his
police officers to cut the bindings off of Michael and Jane. “Hey, look at
this.” Joseph hands O’Healy his phone.
O’Healy takes a look at the e-mail and back at Joseph. “That’s
him…”
“Ok, great, let’s get this going now. We need all the officers
we can finding him.” Joseph mentions, just as he said that a police officer
climbs up from the roof. “Sir, the last call Jane was on was to a Naomi King at
the Fox Tail strip club, she hasn’t checked in since.”
Paul O’Healy dismissed the officer quickly and turned around to
Joseph. “So, you mentioned something about the Fox Tail strip club… What’s
going to happen?”
Joseph fills Paul O’Healy on his visit with Natalie and how it
included a vision of a shooting inside the Fox Tail strip club. Paul O’Healy
smirks to himself hearing it, “Ok. You’ll take a few guy sand set a trap for
him at the club, once he shows himself bam. Catch him, kill him, whatever. I’ll
have my guys do the leg work on Naomi King and this guy’s information base on
Agent Mach’s e-mail. We got him now.”
“You believing Natalie’s vision? It may not happen.”
“Call it a hunch. I don’t find
it odd that Jane’s last call was at the Fox Tail and she happens to be dead
without checking in, and then we have your vision. It’s good enough for me and
that’s all you need to worry about kiddo.” Paul smiles
Joseph forcefully smiles back, it sounds like they were on a
good old fashion manhunt at this point.
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