Vigilante

The sun is slowly rising in the clear-blue skies, sending a vast array of yellows, oranges, and pinks across the broad horizon. A cool early-morning breeze whips through the cruiser. A welcomed change after the heatwave they'd just had. The two detectives sip their coffee, trying to prepare for what's promising to be a grueling day ahead.

The car thuds off Pebble Brook Lane onto a rugged, dirt path. A row of tall, bushy trees border either side, giving the area a more secluded feel. Slowing their speed to a mere crawl, Jamal continues to bump along. "The captain would kill me if I tore this one up too." He swerves around a pothole, splashing over-priced coffee on his leg. "Great," he says, wiping his pants. Jamal is a toothpick of a man who transferred out of narcotics a few months ago. He has short, curly black hair, a dark complexion, and brown eyes.

"It looks like you peed yourself."Toni chuckles.

Jamal glances down at the wet spot covering his pants. "I can only imagine all the teasing that'll come from this."

She chuckles again. "It'd serve you right for all you've done to them."

Jamal thinks back to a few of his pranks and laughs. "I did come up with a few doozies.

Toni recalls what happened a few days ago, smiles, and says, "That you did." She takes a sip of her latte and then continues. "You're right. The captain will have your head if you mess this one up, seeing it's the third cruiser this month." Toni is twenty-four. She has olive skin, almond eyes, and a thin, athletic build. Her long midnight black hair is pulled into a ponytail fastened at the nape of her neck.

"Two of those weren't my fault."

"The captain doesn't see it that way, and neither do the higher-ups."

Jamal rolls his eyes. "I know, I know. They remind me nearly every day." Brass said he'd be placed on desk duty for the remainder of his career if it happens again.

The detectives pull up to find what used to be a two-story farmhouse engulfed in flames. Exhausted firefighters are doing their best to contain the blaze, but with a hundred-year-old house, they find it hard to do.

Climbing out of their car, Toni and Jamal head toward the chief. "The captain said you found something." Toni begins.

"They're over here.

Toni turns toward her partner. A curious expression crosses her face when she asks, "They?"

"The ME believes the victims were dead before the fire began," he explains, leading them to a large oak tree in the center of the yard. Stopping at a blanketed heap, the chief turns and says. "I had my men cover them out of respect." He pulls the canopy back.

The detectives look down to find a dozen battered young girls side by side on the grass. Bits of makeup covers a few of the many bruises on their pale face. A small bouquet of wildflowers lay across each of their battered bodies.

Childhood memories come to mind. Horrors Toni thought she'd left behind. Wiping a tear from her cheek, she pushes the grave image aside.

"Are you alright, detective?"

"I'll be ok in a minute, she says, turning away.

One of the volunteers walks up beside them. He clears his throat and says, "You need to see this, sir." He leads them to a small lean-to that's nothing more than slivers of rotten wood held up by a rickety frame.

Jamal flashes his light inside and finds a naked man hanging from a rafter. Slash marks cover the majority of his rounded body. A bloody horsewhip lies a few feet away.

Toni checks for a pulse then shakes her head and says, "I don't think he's been gone long."

The chief turns towards a first responder. "You, grab a saw and help me cut him down."

"I've got it right here, sir." A second man says, walking toward him. Freeing the hefty man from the chain, they lower him to the ground.

Jamal notices a large dust-free container on the otherwise empty shelf. Walking over, he sifts through the contents, turns, and says, "Take a look at this."

"What'd you find?"

"There's a laptop, cell phone, and these." He hands Toni a stack of photos.

Skimming through the pile, she discovers they're all pictures of underage children dressed in provocative clothes. She takes a quick look around. "We need to get forensics in here and get an ID on this man."

Pulling out his phone, Jamal scans his prints. "According to this, his name is Mark Hensley."

Toni taps a few keys on her cell. "Says here he was the mayor of Stockton, retired ten years ago."

"How did a retired mayor get involved in kiddie porn?"

Toni thinks back to when she was the victim's age. A solemn look crosses her face. Fighting the tears threatening to escape, she looks up and says, "It happens more often than you think."

***

The bright mid-morning sun glares through the earth-toned, moss-carpeted workspace. Styrofoam containers clutter the desks, a typical scene when detectives work on a major case.

The captain steps out of his office. He clears his throat and says, "I just got an ass-chewing from the mayor. He wants to know where we're at in our investigation and why we haven't notified the FBI yet. So, what can you tell me about this perp?" The captain is a giant of a man. His six feet six beefy stature can intimidate almost anyone. Larry has a fair complexion and light-green eyes. His coffee-colored hair cut just above his ears is graying around the temples.

Jamal glances up from his desk. "Mr. Hensley served two consecutive terms in office. Rumors were going around at the end of his last term about his affiliations with the mob. The DA investigated but couldn't find anything."

"What sort of stuff are we talking about, Jamal?"

"Bribery, fraud, drug smuggling, witness tampering, to name a few. He often assisted single mothers out of financial debt out of his own pocket. He claims it's his way of giving back."

"How much are we talking about?"

"His finances show he'd pay ten grand a pop, approximately a hundred k a year."

"Where is all his money coming from?"

"His account shows two consistent deposits. One from the city and a second from an offshore account. I'm looking into the latter now."

Larry scratches his five o'clock shadow. "So, he could've conjured up this child porn ring while in office and the money he gave to help out." He air quotes help out."It was actually to pay for the porn.

"It's possible, sir."

"I think we're talking about more than just kiddie porn, captain." Toni pulls a file up on the laptop and then turns it around. This web page was in his browser history. The contact number traces back to the burner we found in the shed. I also found dozens of images of children in an encrypted file on his hard drive. They're the same images that he downloaded to this site."

"This just came in, sir. Kevin hands the captain a report. With only a five-foot-five frame, he looks like a child alongside the sergeants. Unlike his coworkers, he has a powdery white, freckled complexion and strawberry blond hair. "The calls made to the cell found in the shed came from burner phones which have either been turned off or destroyed. Forensics said they'll do what they can to narrow down where the calls originated from. They also said Mr. Hensley never used his phone to make a call, and according to the GPS, the cell never left the house."

Larry glances at the laptop again. "He couldn't have been running an operation this big alone. Toni, I want you to dig into Mr. Hensley's past. Jamal, I want you and Kevin to talk to everyone that served office with him. Talk to the prosecutor and the detectives that worked the case and see what they can tell you about the investigation. Have you been able to identify the kids?"

"Not yet, sir. Immigration doesn't have any record of these children entering the states. The ME said they've never had any medical work done. She said she'll try to identify them through their DNA but didn't sound hopeful. She also said she found a dollar sign tattooed on the back of the victim's neck, confirming Toni's suspicion about it being a trafficking ring."

Toni looks up from the computer screen. "I'm running their photos through the FBI's data bank, hoping we'll get a hit, but with them being illegal, I doubt we will."

Jamal hangs up his phone. "Patrol responded to a domestic disturbance call and found a man tied to a chair with pictures of under-aged children scattered around him. Said they walked in to find child porn playing on the TV."

Larry scratches his stubble again. "It sounds like we have a vigilante exposing these scumbags for who they are."