Of Lights and Shadows (Book 4)

2) The Island

'Another one bites the dust,' the words were stated plainly by a thick set man of late forties with a handlebar moustache that he had great pride in. Tossing the morning's paper onto the smooth, dark wood surface of the table, the man swivelled in his chair to face the men seated at the table around him. His name was Harry Gallapolo, Commissioner of the Police.

The other four men around the table were Gallapolo's secretary, Earnest Oskins, a thin wiry man with a great mop of ginger hair, wearing a cream coloured suit that hung on his body as if a coat hanger was holding it up.

Next to him sat Detective Theodore Mulligan, a sharp, thirty-nine year old man dressed in clothes that actually fitted and suited him. His eyes were light brown, hypnotic, staring vacantly off into space, but you shouldn’t be fooled into thinking he was distracted or not listening. He had a proud face, high cheekbones and black hair chopped short out of the way. He was considered a charmer, adored by all the women, but could become cold in an instant if he needed to. He had his eye on the big promotion of Lieutenant that would raise him two levels above his current status. It was all he cared about and would do anything to get, which was why he was currently sitting at the conference.

His job was in the Major Case Squad under Deputy Inspector Wallace Gomar, who was currently seriously ill and couldn't attend. He had been ill for a while, unexpectedly with something they weren't sure of, because of his illness the Commissioner had been keeping an eye on the MC Squad.

Mayor Simon Carrow was the third man at the table and he too was a snappy dresser, having won two years in a row the best-dressed man of the year. There wasn't much to tell about him, he was plain with no distinguishing features that made it strange to think that he was known all over New York.

The fourth man at the table sat next to the Mayor. Gallapolo didn't recognise him, but felt that since he was seated at the table he was important somehow and so hadn't objected. He also felt it would be rude of him to ask who he was.

'May I?' inquired Inspector Mulligan, pointing to the paper.

Gallapolo nodded and the Inspector pulled the paper over and studied the front page. The headline was very clear; it referred to the tenth murder of an innocent child in less than three months. So far, all cases had been reasonably similar and they felt it safe to presume that it was the work of a serial killer.

All victims were children under the age of thirteen, and all were reported missing before they turned up dead in various parts of Manhattan. They were unable to pinpoint a time that joined all the children as it changed per child, sometimes it would be a week before the body turned up, another time it was an hour after reported missing. There were never any letters to the victim's parents asking for anything, and no warning as to when the child would show up or whether they would be returned either alive or dead. Each time it was dead though.

The main part of the story in the paper was again calling on the inefficiency of the police in bringing the man responsible to justice. The other part talked about the latest victims, John and Tyler Harrison whose eight-month-old daughter Mary had been taken from her cot at 10:25 PM the night before. Mulligan did not need to read the story, he already knew what it said and had already been on the scene.

An open window in the parents' room, which they both swore was closed and locked when they had left, was where the kidnapper had climbed through. The room was eight stories up and so it would have been a tough climb, which pointed towards the kidnapper being athletic. Unless of course it was a ruse.

There were four suspects to the case and as much as Mulligan wanted to make an arrest, he knew the charges wouldn't hold.

The Harrisons' were the first two suspects; their daughter was the one missing after all. They had gone out for the night, leaving a baby sitter in charge of their daughter. The baby sitter was the third suspect and her boyfriend was the fourth. However, the fact that both the baby sitter and her boyfriend had been locked inside the room without the baby pulled the suspicion away from them. They also claimed they heard the kidnapper.