CHAPTER 3

A/N: Hey, everyone. Please don't forget to hit the little star  at the bottom of your screen. Thank you for being so awesome.

I also want to know what everyone is thinking about the book so far...

As Dani got to the front of Detective Mike's office, she reminded herself that what she was about to do was for the best and with that, she knocked softly on the door.

" Come in" said the voice in the office.

She opened the door and walked in as Mike looked up from the screen of his laptop.

" Miss Roe, is anything wrong? You never come to my office unless you're sent for by me" he said and she smiled.

" No sir. Nothing's wrong. It's just... I found something last night while filing those paperwork and it looks promising. I thought I should show you"

Mike sat up immediately. He motioned for her to take a seat and she did.

"Wow, Miss Roe. Before anything, I guess I would like to ask what made you step up on this case. You've never seemed to be interested in this case and finding the criminal. You always seemed to just sit and wait around till you were ordered around" he said, now placing his hands on the well polished table in front of him.

Dani smiled and said, " Call to duty from God, I guess. I don't know" and they both laughed.

"Alright, then. Call to duty. I'll take that. So what's this promising thing you said you found?"

" It's a statement. From Mannie"

" Let me have it" Miller said, stretching forth one hand and itching his mustache with the other.

Danielle brought out the statement and handed it over to him.

Mike read the statement and said, looking up from the sheet of paper, " Miss Roe, I assume you've read this, right?"

"Absolutely"

"Great. And I'm sure you do remember the crew doing the exact same thing"

" Um, yeah, I do" she said, disappointed as Mike stretched the statement towards her.

"But... Can't we just give it one more chance? There's nothing wrong with trying, right?"

" Of course, there isn't Roe. That's why I'm reminding you that we've already done that but we just got ridiculed.

Danielle bit her lip.

"Yeah but I have a feeling that this time will be completely different if you would just agree and accept the statement. Please" she said.

Mike raised a brow and said, " You know what? We'll do it but I'm doing this because of Mannie. I'm aware of his likeness towards you and can't wait to see the look on his face when he finds out that you begged me to have his statement stamped. Once you leave this office, round up the young officers, and Mannie, and their vehicles. Let's get this over and done with" smiling.

" Uh, no. It's not like that at all, sir"

"Yeah, I know. It's never like that, is it? Here, put this in Mannie's file. Prepare the paper for this operation and get ready. We move by four" he said, as he stamped the statement and handed it over to her.

" I really appreciate this, sir" and with that, she left.

On her way, she checked the time and had just an hour to get prepared.

*******      ********   *******

Taking a deep breath, Dani pressed the doorbell.

She, along with Mannie and two other officers, was standing in front of Annie Johnson's house.

Annie's daughter, Theresa Johnson, was one of the raped victims.

Dani had her profile with her. She was a nineteen year old and was a very beautiful lady.

Suddenly, the door swung open and Annie shot a questioning look at the unfamiliar visitors.

Mannie was the first to speak.

"Excuse me, ma'am. I'm Detective Cooper" he said, as he showed her his ID and Annie scrutinized him.

He continued. "This is my colleague, Detective Roe" pointing at Dani, as she flashed a smile towards Annie who just glanced at her.

"We're here to see your daughter,  Miss Johnson. May we please come in?"

Now, it was Annie's turn to speak.

" No, you may not come in. Not until I know why you want to see my daughter. She's done nothing wrong"

" Oh we know that very well, ma'am. She's really innocent and that's why we would really like to speak with her concerning the incident that occurred on Monday"

" Oh, so now the cops are involved. That's interesting" Annie said, not smiling at all.

She slowly eyed Mannie, turned around and left them standing there while she went in to fetch her daughter.

As soon as she left, Mannie strolled into the house.

"Hey, Mannie. She didn't say to go in" Dani whispered.

" And she didn't say not to" Mannie replied, as he took a seat on the sofa.

The two officers also walked in and Dani went after them. They all had a seat and waited patiently.

Dani loved the house. It had beautiful decorations and made her feel comfortable.

From the family photo on the wall, above the TV, Dani made a quick guess that Tessa, and her other two sisters, had no father.

Tessa looked awful as she walked into the living room behind her mother.

Her eyes were puffy and bloodshot red like she hadn't stopped crying ever since the incident.

She looked nothing like the vibrant girl in the photograph on her profile.

Her appearance was so shabby and she looked so unkempt.

She said nothing as she sat on a bean bag.

Everyone said nothing as she walked in. Even Mannie couldn't bring up the courage to speak.

Dani thought about the girl's feelings. About what she was going through.

Thinking about it made her blame herself. She really should have put Fred behind bars.

Suddenly, Mannie got up.

"Excuse me but I need to make a very important call" he said, then left.

Dani was about to call him back but couldn't. He'd left already, which was bad.

She had no idea how she was going to talk to this girl alone without breaking down.

"Alright. Um, hey, Tessa. I'm Detective Roe. Could you come sit by me, please?" Dani asked, giving a small smile.

" Excuse me" Annie said, as she walked into a room that seemed to be the kitchen.

Tessa silently walked to sit next to her. "Hey", Tessa said.

"Hey" Dani said, as she slowly checked her out.

" So, how do you feel?" Dani asked and immediately realised how stupid that question was.

' Obviously bad' she thought.

Tessa gave a small laugh. A pained one.

" Well, obviously bad" she started and Dani mentally thumped her forehead.

" For starters", she continued, " I feel ashamed. I feel extremely weak and worthless right now. I'm really surprised I've not gone mad right about now. I'm tired of crying but I still need to let out my pain. I've got pains everywhere; mentally and physically. I still can't believe it happened, you know? It's still a shock. I'm still shaken and it's a bad feeling"

Tears were streaming down her face now.

She turned to face Dani.

Her face alone made Dani's heart crush. Tears stung her eyes.

" My area still hurts, though. Who is this man Detective Roe? Doesn't he have feelings? I mean, who would actually hurt women?" She asked Dani but all she could do was wipe her tears.

What could she say? That that man was her ex-boyfriend.

That he does have feelings but they were just for her.

She summoned up courage to speak. She had to be strong for this girl. She couldn't be seen crying by her.

" I don't know, Tessa but we're  trying our very best to get him, alright. I just need you to be strong for me right now. I just need you to describe the man. I mean, you did have a chance to see him, didn't you?"

" I saw him but not his face. He had a mask on. One of those Dali masks but I could see his hair. He had brown hair and–"

Mannie walked in and Dani was frightened but didn't show it.

Fred's hair was a beautiful brown.

The fact that Tessa really got Fred's description was like a reality check to Dani, telling and reminding her that she was on the road to putting the love of her life and Xander's father in jail.

Mannie walked towards them and asked Dani, "Got anything yet?"

Dani hesitated, then sighed before saying,

" She couldn't get his face. Said he had a Dali mask on but she got his hair and she could probably give us his body physique"

" Oh my God, that's great news. This is the farthest we've gotten in this case" he said, completely ecstatic.

Dani managed a large fake smile.

"Yeah. He's got brown hair but I'm yet to get a physique."

" Well, he was heavily built, I can tell you that. Looked like he lived in the gym. Oh, and he looked around the age of twenty- nine to thirty"

Super. Liam, did you get all that?" Mannie asked the taller officer.

"Yes sir"

"Ok, um, thanks so much, Tessa. I, personally and on behalf of the four of us, do appreciate your help. Where's your mum? We've got other places to be" Mannie asked.

" Um, I think she went to the kitchen" Tessa replied and pointed towards the kitchen door.

" Alright, I'll meet you there in the car, then" he said, as he walked towards the kitchen.

Dani got up and hugged Tessa.

" Take care of yourself, alright. You need to visit the hospital for a check-up. Besides, you don't look so good" Dani said.

" Alright. Thanks. I appreciate y–"

"Holy shit! Dani, you need to see this, now!" Mannie yelled from the kitchen.

Dani immediately became alert and moved towards the kitchen, quickly. Tessa closely behind her.

Dani slammed open the and right there, at the centre of the kitchen, was a dead Annie Johnson.