Cry for Me Read online

  Rick was still upset about the leak of the victim’s identity as he drove to the Elgin Police Department. He had planned to release the identity, but not until after he questioned the vic’s neighbors, friends, and associates. He wanted a chance to interview these people to try and ascertain whether or not they knew of any family members. Rick would have much rather contacted the family himself than to let them read of their family member’s death in a piece of shit rag newspaper “wanna” be.

  He pulled up to the Elgin Police Department and went inside the front door. The Elgin Police Department was considerably larger then his own department. He let the desk sergeant know who he was and was told that an investigator would be down shortly.

  A few minutes later Detective Miller was greeted by Detective Pearson. Detective Miller went over what he had on the victim with Detective Pearson. After the briefing was over they headed to their respective squad cars and Miller followed Pearson to the victim’s building where he lived and interviewed the neighbors and building manager. From there, they headed to some known hang outs of the victim.

  They stopped by various bars and clubs as well as the casino. They also stopped by the salon that the victim visited weekly. They learned of the salon from one the victim’s neighbor. Miller and Pearson conducted interviews with employees and patrons of the bars and clubs. They were even able to interview a regular customer of Rush's.

  Everyone had the same to report. He was a very polite and out going person and was seen as the life of the party and had a passion for style. It was at the vic’s salon that they learned a little more about his actions the day of the murder.

  The salon owner, Bruce “Brucie Boy” Gibbons, told the detectives that Mr. Rush had been in for his weekly “pampering” which consisted of a hair style, pedi & mani, body hair removal, and aromatic message. They learned that Mr. Rush had bleach blonde hair as well as his eyebrows. Mr. Gibbons went on tell the detectives that Mr. Rush (Jimmy) had mentioned he had a special client later that afternoon that was outside his normal “trick” and that he had originally turned down this client and that the client had offered double his normal rate of $1000.00 per hour.

  Mr. Gibbon’s stated that this was all Jimmy had mentioned about the appointment. He did not indicate the time, place, sex, or even what was out of the ordinary for this client. Gibbons went on to state that they finished out his stay talking about a new Versace outfit that Jimmy had just purchased and planned to wear on this date.

  The outfit consisted of a blue- violet Digital Barocco silk shirt, white-black-gold Digital Barocco jeans, a pair of royal blue Medusa Slippers, a black leather belt with a gold Medusa head belt buckle, and to top it all off pair of brown- golden Barocco “Animalier” Briefs. Detective Pearson looked at Mr. Gibbons and jokingly asked about what kind of socks he had on and Gibbons snapped back in a sarcastic tone, “Sugar, you don’t wear socks with an ensemble like that!”

  The detectives thanked Mr. Gibbons for the information and went out to the parking lot of the salon. Detective Miller thanked Detective Pearson for his help and they parted ways. “At least we know a little bit more about the vic’s events leading up to the killing and what he was wearing.” thought Rick.

  Rick called Keyes to see what he had learned. Keyes stated that the family did not know much. He went on to tell Miller that the family had been estranged from Mr. Rush since he left home at age nineteen. In fact, they had no idea he was living in Elgin. They had heard through the grape vine that he lived in Chicago near Wrigley Field. Miller thanked Keyes and told him to go ahead and knock off for the day. It was almost six o’clock pm and Miller told Keyes to go home and have dinner with his wife and kids and to get some sleep because they were going back at it again, early tomorrow morning.

  Miller decided that he would do the same. He was hungry and had not eaten much all day. He pulled out his iPhone and called Sam. He asked Sam what her plans were for the evening and she stated that she had none. He told her he was going to stop and grab take out on the way home and wanted to know if she would like to join him. She told Rick that she would love to join him for dinner but she insisted that she would make dinner. She didn’t think take out was the best thing for dinner and that she would make a delicious grilled chicken salad and bring it over to his apartment. She told Rick to stop and pick up a nice bottle of wine on the way.

  Rick was walking into to Stan’s Liquor Store in down town South Elgin trying not to think about the case for the evening. He needed time to relax. To get away from it so he can look at all the evidence tomorrow morning with fresh eyes. He wandered up and down the wine isle looking for a “nice” bottle of wine. “What the hell is a nice bottle of wine?” mumbled Rick to himself.

  He was staring at the labels when he heard a female voice ask, “Fancy meeting you in the wine isle! Your beverages of choice are in the cooler with the easy twist off caps!” It was his friend and coworker, Lynn Philips.

  “Oh, hey Lynn, just trying to pick out a wine for dinner.” chuckled Rick.

  “Well, let me see if I can help. What’s for dinner?” asked Lynn.

  “Grilled chicken salad.”

  “Wow! Look at you! exclaimed Lynn. “Let’s see Oaked Chardonnay would go well if the chicken was in a creamy sauce or I know a nice Sauvignon Blanc goes perfectly with chicken and greens.” said Lynn as she handed him a bottle of the wine.

  “No take out tonight, eh?” asked Lynn.

  “No. My neighbor Sam is making dinner and meeting me at my place tonight. She asked if I could pick a nice bottle of wine.”

  Lynn felt her heart drop. She was just about to ask him if he wanted company for dinner. What an idiot she felt like. She had heard him talk about Sam before and she hated it. He hat not said much about her lately and she had hoped ‘this Sam’ had found a boy friend, or moved.

  Rick and Sam were not dating by any means and were just neighbors. But this made Lynn very upset. She always suspected Rick had feelings for her, although he never said it. She could not believe she just helped him pick out a bottle of wine to bring to dinner with that slut!

  “Oh.”, replied Lynn. Lynn turned and started walking away. She turned over her shoulder and said, “Have a good time tonight. See you tomorrow!” She was trying hard not to let on that she was upset. Rick said good bye and headed to the register.

  “Hey Rick. How are you?” asked Tom, the store owner.

  “Ok, Tom. You?” replied Rick.

  “That’s something about that murder, huh?” asked Tom as pointed to a copy of City Heat Gazette placed by the register.

  “Why do you sell that crap, Tom? You know that is not real journalism?” snapped Rick.

  “I know, Rick but with a cover price of $9 a copy! I make $5 a copy and people buy it! I’m down to my last copy. They have been flying off the shelf since this happened!” Rick grabbed his bagged bottle of wine and headed for his car.

  Sam was waiting for Rick in the parking lot to head him off. She knows he usually uses the outside entrance and wanted to head him off so he could use the interior entrance and help her carry over dinner.

  “We could just have dinner at your place if it’s easier.” said Rick.

  “No I want to have dinner at your place so you can relax. You have had a lot on your mind the past few days and need time to unwind.” replied Sam.

  Sam set the table for dinner and poured them each a healthy glass of the wine he just bought while Rick took a quick shower and changed into regular clothes. “Nice choice in wine, Rick. Tell you the truth I expected something in a box.” teased Sam.

  “Very funny”, chuckled Rick from the other room.

  Rick and Sam ate their dinner and then relaxed in the living room. They laughed as they shared stories and reminisced about some of the past tenants of the building and how some were quite the characters. Rick did his best not to think about the case and Sam was doing a good job at keeping his mind occupied.

  Soon it was ten o’clock and Rick told Sam h
e had to excuse himself and get ready for bed that he had an early day tomorrow. Sam told Rick she understood and Rick walked her across the hall to her apartment where they said good bye. Rick thought about giving her kiss but was not sure how she would react so decided not to. He shuffled back to his apartment, put a pair of sweat pants he got from The Police Training Institute, and got into bed.

  He laid there trying not to think about the case but it was slowly creeping back into his mind. He was worried that the killer would strike again and shuttered at the thought. There were so many questions in which he needed answers to and he intended to keep asking them until he got the answers he was looking for.

  Chapter 5

  The sun was shinning bright in the western sky as it had been yet another hot day. Karen Watterson was just getting into her 2013 Toyota Prius after a long day. She had to be to work at 5:00am that morning, four hours earlier then normal, to work on some of the computer servers before the main work force had come in. Karen was an I.T. Specialist at First America, a large credit card processing center headquartered in Elgin. She really loved her job and looked forward to going every day, but dreaded today because of the stress involved on the work that had to be done and still get the system up and running before the other departments arrived.

  First America employs over 300 employees at the Elgin facility and plays a vital roll to their customer service, collections, and fraud departments. But that was all behind her now as her day was over. It was Friday and she was ready for the weekend to start.

  Karen could not help but notice how hot it had become in her car from sun beating on it all day. It took her breath away. She started her car and rolled her windows down right away and took off for home.

  She cranked her radio. Jamin’ to US 100, “The Hillbilly” a local country radio station. She was really looking forward to the weekend. She had met a new man two months ago and they were planning on spending Saturday and Sunday together. They had plans for a dinner and a movie on Saturday night and a country cover band that was playing at the Cracked Paddle on the Fox River.

  She could not help but think about her new boyfriend, Adam, and how wonderful he was. He knew what a hectic morning she had in store for her today and wanted to surprise her for dinner but had to work the PM shift at the factory he worked at. So instead he surprised her by bringing her in lunch from her favorite café, Alejandro’s.

  She was so impressed and touched by his gesture that she rewarded him by giving him a “quickie” in the server room while her coworker Scott was out to lunch. She could not believe she had done that! She was having the best time of her life and found herself quickly falling in love with Adam and his caring personality. She had finally found mister right.

  Karen arrived home to her townhome she owned in Gilberts. Gilberts is a small village off Elgin’s North West corner. It is a nice quiet town, perfect place to raise a family. Karen’s subdivision is on the outskirts of town built approx. ten years ago chiseled out of what used to be corn fields.

  It was a typical suburban neighborhood set in a rural setting. Karen walked in the front door and was greeted by the cool air conditioned air and her cat, Mr. Jinks. Karen put down her purse and picked up Mr. Jinks and walked into the kitchen. She grabbed a cold bottle of beer from the fridge and poured it into a glass. The beer was cold and refreshing and a perfect end to her hectic day. She at down at the table and drank half the glass of beer as she thumbed through her mail. She decided she would go to her bedroom, undress, take a shower and settle in for the evening. She was expecting a call from Adam around 9:30pm when he went on lunch.

  Karen stood in front her dresser as she pulled out her favorite pair of pajamas. It was an old T-shirt that her father used to wear. Far too big for Karen it came to her knees and was perfect for a night shirt. Karen went into the bathroom off her bedroom and started the shower and placed her night shirt on the sink along with a towel. She returned to her room to undress while she waited for the water to get to temp.

  Standing back in front of her dresser she began to kick off her shoes starting with her left shoe. Suddenly Karen heard a noise and felt a sharp stabbing sensation in the left side of her neck followed by a deep burning sensation.

  Soon Karen dropped to the floor no longer able to stand. She landed on her back and was looking up at the ceiling. Her knees had buckled and folder her legs underneath her. She could not move her legs or arms. She tried to speak and was unable to. It was hard to blink and she trouble moving her eyes. She began to panic. “What is wrong with me?” she thought to herself. Karen had no clue what had happened. She had felt fine moments before, in fact, the best she has felt in a long time. Karen could see something moving out of the left side of her left eye. “Is that Mr. Jinks?” she thought. Karen thought Mr. Jinks had heard her fall and came into investigate. The object came closer to Karen. Then she realized it was not Mr. Jinks. It was masked intruder who was standing to the left side of her staring down at her.

  The killer was wearing a black ski mask with just two holes for the eyes and one hole for the mouth which had been sewn shut. Over the eye holes the attacker wore a pair of dark sunglasses. Karen tried to move her eyes to see the rest of her attacker but had trouble moving them. Her eyes began to slowly move along the attacker’s torso and stopped at the attacker’s waist. She could see the intruder was wearing a black hooded sweatshirt with the hood pulled up over the ski mask. The intruder wore black leather gloves and a hypodermic needle was clutched in the right hand. “That was the pain I felt in my neck!” thought Karen.

  She was really beginning to panic. Now she felt helpless. She was so frightened. She tried to cry out for help but could not. She tried to strike out against her attacker with her legs and arms and despite how hard she tried was unable to. “Dear God. What are you going to do to me?” thought Karen, her mind racing as she ran various scenarios through her head.

  She was frantically trying to figure out what the attacker had injected into her to cause her to be this way. She wondered if it would kill her. She tried to form a plan to get out of this situation but could not come up with one. She was faced with the very real fact that she was unable to move or speak.

  Karen could hear the shower still running as her attacker moved around the town home. She worried about her cat, Mr. Jinks. “Was he ok?” she thought. Suddenly, she heard the shower shut off and what sounded like one of her kitchen chairs being drug into the bedroom. Soon her suspicions were confirmed when she saw the intruder dragging the kitchen chair into the room.

  The intruder never said a word. She felt herself being dragged towards the chair and after a bit of a struggle, the attacker had managed to get her into the chair and tie off her wrists and ankles to the chair. Karen could feel all the pain as the attacker bumped and bruised her trying to get her into the chair. The ropes were tight against her skin and she could feel it pinching and burning.

  Her attacker left the room and soon returned holding Mr. Jinks. Karen immediately began to freak out when she saw this asshole standing in front of her holding her cat. “Put my cat down you sick son of a bitch! If you hurt him I will fucking kill you, you mother fucker!” Karen screamed, but only in her head.

  Karen was filled with so many emotions. She was so scared and seeing him holding her cat that she loved with all of her heart, brought on fierce rage and renewed fear. She broke down and wept uncontrollably. She thought how odd it was to cry this uncontrollably and with no movement.

  Tears began to flow down her cheeks like small rivers. Her attacker immediately held test tubes up to her cheeks and began to catch her tears. This action confused Karen. She could not understand why her attacker was collecting her tears. With this sudden onset of confusion Karen stopped crying and the tears soon began to stop flowing. This seemed to agitate the attacker. The attacker leaned into Karen’s left ear and whispered. “Cry for me.” Karen was completely baffled by her attacker’s request. She sat there stunned trying to process this odd request.
The intruder leaned in again and whispered, “Cry for me.” Karen still dazed and confused by the attack and this strange request just sat there staring into the sunglasses of the intruder.

  She could almost see her attacker’s eyes through the sunglasses now that they were sitting so close to each other. Her attacker grew increasingly agitated at Karen’s inability to cry and leaned in once more and in a bit more forceful and course voice whispered loudly, “Cry for me bitch!”

  Still no tears, Karen just sat there processing her attacker’s request. “Why does he want my tears?” wondered Karen. The intruder left the room. Karen was hoping that the attacker would leave since she was not crying and producing tears. She heard foot steps coming back down the hall towards her bedroom. The intruder once again appeared in her bedroom, again holding Mr. Jinks. Karen soon felt an immense amount of rage instantly build inside her. She wanted so bad to get a hold of this crazy son of a bitch. The intruder leaned in and whispered in her left ear, “Cry for me or I kill this fucking cat.” Karen froze when she heard this. She also noticed a hint of an odor from her attacker. It was oddly familiar to her. She had smelled that somewhere before but could not put her finger on it. The odor was faint. Perhaps if it were stronger Karen could have been able to identify it.

  The attacker was now standing in front of her holding Mr. Jinks in the left hand and a butcher knife in the right. Karen recognized the knife. It was from her kitchen. The attacker had left her room retrieved Mr. Jinks and the butcher knife. She was fearful that he would actually kill her cat. Karen broke down and the tears once again began to stream down her face. The intruder immediately placed test tubes to her face and began collecting her tears. Karen just kept thinking of sad things to keep the tear production up. She was hoping and praying her attacker would just leave once enough tears had been collected. This went on for several minutes and seemed like an eternity to Karen.