Guardian Attraction (4 page)

9.
Transmit

Jamie planned a night of intense studying for the
BAR exam. Her infatuation with Jason, although healthy for her spirit and mood,
had cost her academically. She needed to rally in order to pass this and
finally be done with school. Christine had invited herself over though, needing
to talk about her man troubles. Jamie allowed it hoping she would leave soon.

She stood in her kitchen cutting up vegetables,
talking to Christine who was in the living room. Christine turned the volume up
on the television as the news came on. 

"Tonight's top story, another murder in
Evanston," the reporter said. Jamie looked up at the television.

"Oh my God!" Christine said. "This
town is turning into the South Side!"

"Police have identified the victim as Ronald
Ackerman, 46, of Evanston who died from multiple gunshot wounds. Police say
this victim falls into the pattern of at least five different murders in the
Evanston area. Ackerman served a fifteen year sentence for rape."

Jamie put down her knife and walked to her sofa,
sitting down next to Christine. A police spokesperson began talking from a
podium.

"We believe, as stated before, that these
murders are linked. The method of execution is the same. The victims all fall
into a category."

"The category Lt. Mathews is referring to is
people with a criminal history, specifically, those who were convicted of sex
crimes. All five of those murdered had past been convicted of various sex
crimes in their past.

"Wow. Well, that makes seven if you count the
one Jason shot," Christine said.

"Yeah," Jamie said, voice trembling. She
cleared her throat and then felt a sudden shock, thinking about the
possibility.

The reporter continued, "Police have reason
to believe that the suspect may drive a large extended cab truck, light in
color."

Jamie felt like she was about to pass out. She
leaned back into the sofa, feeling sweat forming on her brow. She stood up,
knees trembling, and walked towards the bathroom. She could only see in tunnel
vision, as if she was walking 100 miles per hour. She made it into the bathroom
and fell to her knees, vomiting.

"Jamie! Here let me help you," Christine
said, holding back Jamie's hair. She finished, spitting in the toilet one last
time and standing up. "Do you need to go lay down?"

"No, I'm fine. It just came over me,"
Jamie said, flushing the toilet. She washed her hands and brushed her teeth.
She walked back into the living room to see that the news had moved on to a
different topic.

"Hey, I think I may just be really nervous
about the BAR tomorrow, I need to study really bad," Jamie said.

"Oh, okay, I will get out of your hair,"
Christine said, picking up her jacket.

"Wait, stay and eat with me. I can't eat all
of this," Jamie offered.

"Okay, sounds good," said Christine.

The girls ate supper as Jamie's mind was in total
disarray. She attempted to pay attention to what Christine was talking about.
Christine knew something was not right with Jamie. After supper, they said
their farewells and Jamie sat down at her desk. There was no way she could
study now. She sat with the palms of her hands holding her head upright. She
stayed like that for two hours, eventually opting for the bottle of vodka she
kept in her freezer.

Jamie woke up on her couch, with a pounding
headache, breath tasting horrible. She sat up, exacerbating the intensity of
her hangover. She saw vomit on her carpet, then felt a sudden panic.

"Oh fuck. Oh fuck!" She ran over to her
clock to see that she had about 45 minutes to spare until she had to take her
exam. She rapidly changed clothes, cleaned up, and flew out of the door.

Jamie sat during her exam feeling like she was
about to throw up again. She closed her eyes frequently to ease the pain of the
lights in the room. She almost started crying, but contained herself as a
single tear dripped down her face. Handicapped, she finished the exam. She
turned it in and walked out of the building.

As the doors shut behind her, she began to cry.
She walked until she got to a table at the courtyard. She put her head down and
cried for a while. She could see people staring at her as they walked by. After
a while she contained herself and noticed a newspaper somebody had left at her
table. The Evanston Chronicle, with a headline about the murders. She didn't
read it. Disgusted, she began to fold it up, when she noticed a "Voices of
the Community" section. The journalist had asked people in the community
what they thought about the dubbed "Rapist Murders" around Evanston.
Jamie read on. Scott Mirer, a white male with a beard, was quoted as saying
"It might not be a popular thing to say, but I think this guy is doing
this town a favor." Janet Almeria, a white older woman, said "The
justice system should be in the hands of the government, not a vigilante."
Jerome Hilton, a black middle-aged man, commented "It would be different
if the victims were petty thieves or something, but these are sick people who
didn't serve terms long enough for the crimes they committed. I don't think
they will be missed."

Jamie collected herself and sat in silence.
Thoughts raced through her head so fast she could barely channel logic out of
it. Perhaps it wasn't Jason. He would be the victim in all of this if she were
to assume he was. She picked up her bag and walked home.

Jamie sat on her couch with her phone in her hand,
trembling. It beeped, and the message she had been waiting for arrived.

"Yeah, I definitely want to get together
tonight. - Jason," the text read. Jamie's heart raced.

10.
Indicted

Jason stood in the doorway with a smile on his
face. He embraced Jamie, kissed her, and escorted her in to his house.

"So how does it feel to be done?" he
asked. Jamie had yet to comprehend that she was done with school, pending she
passed.

"It feels great. I feel like so much weight
has been lifted off my shoulders," she lied. "I just want to relax
tonight. Can we stay here and chill out?"

"Yeah, that's what I planned on
anyways," replied Jason. "I'll cook for you. I hope you like Thai
food."

"Yeah, just not too spicy," Jamie
requested.

She helped Jason cook that nights dinner, which
was delicious, trying to act as normal as she could.

"Are you okay?" Jason asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Why?" Jamie replied.

"I imagined you would be a lot happier after
today. I mean, you are done with law school. You probably aced the BAR. You
just don't seem that excited about it."

"Oh, I am. You have no idea. I stayed up late
last night studying. I'm pretty tired. Christine wouldn't leave. She kept
blabbing about how no man can commit to her," said Jamie.

"Alright, I just thought maybe you were mad
at me or something. I would rather you tell me if I did something wrong or
something, instead of just being mad at me," said Jason.

Jamie could feel sweat forming on her brow. The
stress and the spiciness of her meal left her feeling intensely hot.

"No, God, it's nothing you did. I'm just
tired. Sorry if I'm coming off as bitchy," Jamie said.

"Not at all, I just thought you might be mad
at me. Do you care if I go take a shower real quick? I smell like a back-alley
Bangkok prostitute after cooking that meal," Jason asked.

"No, I don't care. I will pick out a movie
for us while you are in there," Jamie said.

"Thanks, I won't be long. You can join me if
you want, you know?" Jason said with a smile.

"Maybe I'll surprise you," Jamie said,
returning the smile.

Jason walked back to his bathroom and closed the
door. Jamie heard the water turn on and she bounced to her feet. She walked
back to Jason's office. Opening the door, she flipped the light on. His
computer was already turned on. She moved the mouse to go from the screen saver
back to desktop. Her eyes scanned the screen quickly, knowing her time was
limited. She opened the web browser, and anxiously opened up the history
folder. The contents were enormous. Jason apparently didn't erase his history
very often or ever. She would normally be appalled at the amount of porn sites
she saw, but not this night. Her heart was beating out of her chest. Then, it
sank deep. Sex offender registries and news articles of the killings. Not quite
proof, but damaging to his case.

Jason was taking an extra long shower it seemed,
waiting for Jamie to join him, but she needed the minutes. She pulled open a
drawer in the computer desk. There were several notebooks. Jamie picked up a
black one, and opened it. It was Jason's hand writing. Jamie began to shake. He
had been taking notes on people. Jamie flipped through it. Most of the names
she had not heard of. It contained addresses, vehicles they drove, jobs they
worked, hours, family, crimes, incarceration dates, prisons. She put the
notebook back and picked up a blue one. She opened it to the middle and flipped
a few pages. "William Raymond
Kelsay
, holy
shit," Jamie whispered. She read on. It contained his height, weight, past
offenses, victims of his crimes, his last known addresses, which Jason had
written, "No cars at either address, saw him walking in this area, may
live with friends periodically."

Jamie took a moment to comprehend what she was
reading. She attempted to swallow, but her throat would hardly allow it. She
noticed the framed picture next to the computer. It was Jenny. Her beautiful
yearbook picture that was used on all the news sites Jamie had been on. She
almost started to cry, but then Jason would know. She held it together with
everything in her. Then, she heard the water turn off. With a jolt of
adrenaline, she put the notebook back like it was in the desk, frantically
attempted to put the computer back like it was, but opting to turn the monitor
off instead. She walked quickly out of the room, then racing back to turn the
light off and shut the door. She ran to the entertainment center and pulled
some movies into the floor, just as the bathroom door swung open.

"You didn't join me!" Jason said smiling,
standing with only a black towel wrapped around his waist.

"I'm sorry babe. Next time I will,"
Jamie said, as Jason walked into the living room. He was still wet, his abs
shining. Jamie looked deep into his eyes. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Yeah, shoot," responded Jason.

"The night we met, when you had to shoot that
guy...," Jamie paused.

"Yeah, go on," Jason said.

"How did you get there so fast? I mean, how
did you arrive at the scene as fast as you did? The police report said you
arrived one minute after the call went out, but I know you were there about 30
seconds after I dialed 911. Something was not right about that."

"You're right," Jason said. Surprised,
Jamie had expected him to defend himself or dodge the question. "I had
been following that guy around,
Kelsay
. I knew about
his past and thought that he was highly likely to re-offend. So, I followed
him, a lot. The department didn't know about that. I probably would get fired
even if they knew now."

Jamie continued looking into Jason's eyes, her own
filling with tears. He continued explaining.

"I saw him tracking you guys and I stayed
back. When he turned down that alley I knew something bad would happen. I
waited until I saw him take his weapon out, then I hit the lights. The call had
yet to go out. It took dispatch a while to figure your coordinates. I had
already been there and shot the guy before they even had that. I manipulated
the police report to reflect everything. I'm sorry if you are mad at me for
this. Sometimes the bad guys get away because of the bureaucracy of police and
the justice system."

Jamie was wiping the mascara out of her eyes which
burned, then built up the courage to ask him another question.

"Did he really have a gun drawn at you?"

Jason hesitated. "No."

Astounded, Jamie listened to the explanation.

"When I caught up to him and took him down,
his gun fell out. I was attempting to cuff him, when he started to reach over
to it on the ground. I shot him. He could have gotten it, but my response was
definitely beyond the reach of what is customary for officers."

Jamie was shocked. She could not believe how
honest Jason had been. If she continued to press on, she felt that he may admit
to killing all of those people.

Jason sat down beside Jamie.

"I just want to be completely honest with
you, because, I love you."

Jamie had been yearning for Jason to tell her this
before the past two days. It was a dream lost in a hurricane of emotions. She
sat silent, contemplating if she should press on about the murders, but she
already knew the answer. She knew that she was in love with Evanston's Grim
Reaper, bringer of protection to the innocent and redeemer of those so horribly
taken.

"I love you," Jamie said, looking up at
Jason, the green eyed hero she fell in love with. She didn't know the future,
or what would happen by the end of the night. In this moment, she could only
embrace his kiss.

ABOUT
THE AUTHOR

While breaking from world travel, Stacey
Summers writes stories partly inspired by true experiences, but collided with
her twisted imagination. She can usually be spotted on the beach with a
notebook and a
mojito
.