Chapter six doesn't exist, sorry....apparently I can't count to ten.......
Two days had passed since the attack. Andy still had Traci driving her home at night, but stubbornly refused to be driven to work: it was light out and she had a gun, she wouldn't be jogging at three am.
After her cry with Sam, Andy was pretty much back to normal, with nightmares that woke her up screaming but nothing more. They knew that one killer was still on the loose though, so they were pulling long hours. This week, they had all picked up a night shift, and Andy would be working from 10 am to 6am.
No one from the 15 complained though, especially not Andy because she had talked Best into letting her patrol with Chris, they were ontop of speeders today, so Andy wouldnt even need to get out of the car.
"Chris!" she yelled into the locker room as she walked in, "Are you ready to babysit me?" Chris jumped and blushed, the shy boy that he was, and hastily threw on his shirt.
"Andy! This is the men's locker room!"
"Like that's ever bothered McNally before." snorted Sam as he walked to his locker. This earned him a glare from Andy before she turned her attention back to Chris.
"Yeah, yeah... Hurry up, I've been sitting at a desk for two days! Let's go catch some speeders... Maybe we can get in a high speed chase!" she blurted out in a hurry. Andy was hopping from foot to foot, practically dancing in excitement, although she was slightly hunched over to make sure she didnt pull her stitches.
"ok, we can-" Chris managed to get out before Andy dragged him out of the locker room and to their car. Sam snorted from his locker and geared up, he was with Peck today. He wished he was win Andy, but Best didn't want his on traffic, he wanted him catching the rapist. Best had informed them in parade that they were canvassing the neighborhood he seemed to be focusing on, asking questions and staying visible.
It was gonna be a long shift.
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"Officer, I swear I was going the speed limit." whined the man in the front seat as he rolled down his window. Andy approached the driver side while Chris looked through the passenger side. He winced visibly as he saw the smirk on the man's face that appeared as soon as he saw Andy. Andy was not in a charitable mood and this man was really gonna test her. He hurried to stand by her as she opened her mouth.
"Well, according to this meter you were going about 30 mph over, so I need to see your license and registration please." she answered with a tight smile. She was sick of dealing with whiny adults.
"Here," he handed her papers from his glovebox, "I could give you something else too? A number?". He gave her a charming smile that might have worked on someone else, but not a pissed off, injured Andy McNally. The glare she sent him was withering, and he visibly shrunk back as Andy stalked back to the car to check out his papers.
"I would leave her alone if I was you." advised Chris. He almost felt bad for the guy. "It's kinda been a rough few days." he hadn't realized that Andy was behind him.
"I'm fine! I just hate being on traffic patrol with that perv on the loose." she shoved a ticket, his license and his registration through the window. "Have a good day." the man threw a sympathetic glance at Chris as Andy stalked away, before driving off slowly.
"Good luck."
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"Sam!" yelled Best as he sprinted out of his office, the senior officer had just walked in with Peck for a quick dinner break. Best had just opened the envelope at his desk, and spotted Sam first and knew that he kept close tabs on his rookie. "Where is McNally?" he hustled down the stairs.
"Uh, she's on traffic with Chris. She talked you into letting her out." Sam started at his staff-sergeant with concern, Best looked very worried, and Best never gets worried. "Whats going-"
"No time! Call her, now! Quickly!" he yelled. "Peck! Get me Jerry, quickly!". Sam's heart was in his stomach, his rookie was in trouble? He willed her to answer as Best barked orders.
"McNally?" he barked as the phone picked up.
"Yep. What's wrong?" she asked, picking up his tone. Best snagged the phone from his hands though
"McNally, are you in the car with Chris?" he asked urgently.
"Yeah, were on main, is something wrong?" she was starting to get worried.
"Don't get out of the car, don't stop the car, drive back to the station now." he could hear her tell Chris to drive back to the station, fast, because something was wrong.
"We're on our way sir. Be there in 5." Best hung up the phone and turned to face Jerry and Sam, peck was standing back a ways. He ran a hand over his face and sighed.
"What's this about?" asked Jerry. "Is McNally ok?" He'd caught the tail end of the end of the conversation. Sam crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow, even though he wasn't a detective he wasn't moving anywhere.
"We wait untill McNally gets here, then I'll debrief you." The look he gave them both quelled any protests. A few tense moments passed in silence as Peck drifted away to find the other Rookies and Sam paced nervously. Best had Jerry call his people to track down where his mail had come from.
"What's wrong? What happened?" asked a breathless Chris as he and Andy rushed in. A collective sigh of relief was released in a whooosh, as Best grabbed Andy's shoulders, as if to confirm she was there.
"You're ok." he said. "Thank god! Good job Chris, get the other rookies and anyone else who was at the crime scene two days ago into parade. I'll be there soon. Jerry, McNally, with me." he marched up to his office quickly, not looking back. McNally shot a worried glance at Sam, confusion written across her features.
"We don't know anything other than that he has us tracing his mail back to the sender.". Jerry placed a hand on the small of her back and steered her up stairs. She glanced helplessly back at Sam who tried to convey comfort with his gaze before she looked away.
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"Have a seat." Best snapped on a pair of gloves before picking up an envelope on his desk. "This concerns you McNally, and Jerry I want you to take the lead on this case."
"What case sir?" asked Andy.
"I just received, from an anonymous sender, pictures taken at the crime scene from before we got there." Andy's brain didn't immediately understand what that had to do with her.
"It would've just been an empty street then...it was an alyway." she stuttered. Jerry understood though,
"No. Not possible." he stood up to see the envelope.
"Andy, the pictures were taken while you were out, after you killed your attacker." Andy was Jerry visibly pale as he examined the pictures, then look at her with pity.
"Let me see them. Please." she stood shakily, the blood pounding in her ears... Jerry glanced at best before laying out the pictures on the desk.
The first showed the man she had killed, lying flat on his back, eyes wide open. Dead. The blood was still wet and the ally empty.
The next showed Andy lying with her eyes closed and blood dripping down her face. A gloved hand was holding a knife to her throat. Almost drawing blood.
The remaining pictures were various shots of her, spanning back weeks: shots of her at work, on patrol, at home, laughing at the Penny.
Andy's breath stuck in her throat, her heart dropped to her stomach, all she could hear was the blood rushing through her ears, all she could see was the knife. With a visible struggle, she pried her eyes from the photos and stumbled backwards. She only stopped when she hit the glass walls of Best's office.
Someone else had been there, watching. Not just at the crime scene, but for weeks! She had been stalked, followed. Helplessly, she looked at Jerry, then Best for an explanation.
"Why?"
.
