Character Sketch

Chapter 5 - Scene of the Crime

Chapter 5


Scene of the Crime





“Come on Katie you know what Dad would say, ‘cowboy up’.  I know you’re shook but lets not make a scene.  You’re tougher than this and you know it.  All the Moores are because that’s how Dad taught us.” Elizabeth pushed Katie away from her, held on to her shoulders and looked her in the eye.


“You’re right.  It’s just when the policeman pulled me out of class, it brought back all the feelings from the day Dad died.  Plus they took my Character Sketch notebook.  The one I’ve been working on for so long.” Katie wiped the tears from her eyes with the back of her hand.


“Now you’re whining.”


“Oh I’m so glad you came down here, you are so sympathetic.” Katie rolled her eyes and smiled.


“I’ll tell you what, since that old composition notebook was almost full anyway, I’ll buy you a new one on the way home.” The last part of the sentence Elizabeth spoke in baby talk


“Thanks, mom.”  They both laughed.


“What do they want with that old notebook?”


“I did a character sketch on the girl that got attacked last night.”


“How did the police find out about that, you never let anyone see that notebook?”


“Jake Perry was at the library too.”


“Jake Perry, the Jake Perry, baseball pitcher, that Jake Perry?”


“The girl can drool out of both sides of her mouth.”


“And?”


“He caught me doing a character sketch on him.  He snatched the notebook and read what I had written and then tried to turn it into a pick-up.”


“Jake Perry tried to pick you up? What do you mean tried?”


“I’m not stupid and I wasn’t about to be the brunt of some ‘who can pick up the plainest girl at the library’ jokes.”


“You turned him down.”


“There was no turning down.  He just wanted my number, another notch in the old black book. I just didn’t give it to him.  He was arrogant and a jerk.”


“Gloria Steinham would be proud.”


“To top it off, I find out today he followed me home last night.”


“Why?”


“Get my address so he can look up my number in the student directory. His ‘silent revenge’ he called it.  So I would still end up in his address book.”


“You’re right he is a jerk.”


“Here’s the twist.  He may have scared away a would-be stalker.”


“You’re kidding.”


“No, somebody’s been hanging out behind the bushes in the Meacham’s yard.”


“The police think that somebody was stalking us?”


“I guess and when Jake pulled up in his jeep the stalker ran off.”


“Mom’s going to flip when she hears about this.”





(Add scene at store with Curtis the clerk and graduate student neighbor)








Jake paced across the living room floor of his apartment.  He slammed his fist into his hand every few paces.  Afternoon practice had been a bust.  Coach had taken them straight to the stadium from the police station.  His strict instructions not to tell anyone about the investigation were negated by the rumor mill. Brian and Jake had been bombarded by questions the minute they walked onto the field. The coach intervened, but the quickly averted stares Jake got the rest of practice told him people where imagining the worst.  The rumors alone could ruin his chance of going professional after college. 


What was he if he wasn’t an athlete?


“Stop your pacing. You’re driving me crazy,” Calvin barked from his bedroom.


The room was closing in on Jake; he had to get out of there.


“I’m going for a run. I’ll be back in an hour or so.” Jake sat on the back of the couch to put his running shoes on.


“Not on your life.  Your coach said to stay here.” Calvin came out of his room where he had been napping.


“Look it will only be an hour and if I stay here I’ll end up putting my fist through a wall.”


“Jake, don’t be stupid.”


“An hour max I promise.”





Jake set out at a good pace toward campus, then changed his mind and doubled back.  He didn’t want to bump into anyone that might know or recognize him.  He needed time to think. He had always planned to go pro after college. He already had pro-teams courting him. He even thought he might have a shot at the Olympics in the decathlon.  Everyone thought he was just lucky to have such natural talent, but he had worked hard since junior high. A coach had told him if he put in the effort he could be a great pitcher someday. He had put his heart and soul into it and paid his dues.


Now a cloud hung over all of it. If they didn’t find this attacker his name would always be linked to these brutal assaults.  There would be doubt in everyone’s minds no matter what he said to the contrary. All his hopes and dreams up in smoke. What was he if he wasn’t an athlete?


His grades where pretty respectable, but business was a long-term goal.  After his professional career was over he had planned to get into the restaurant business or have a car dealership.  Right now those things didn’t seem very appealing and impractical because you needed capital to do either one.


He couldn’t even be a high school coach with this shadow over him.


Jake noticed yellow crime scene tape around the bushes in someone’s yard across the street off to his left.  He nearly stumbled as he stopped to take in his surroundings.  He was in front of 1412 ½ Maple St. He looked up at the window that must be Katie’s room.  No face peering out.  That was good.  He looked up and down the street no one in sight.  He looked again at the crime scene tape.  His curiosity got the better of him.


Plaster drippings dotted the area around several boot prints behind the bushes.  Jake examined the pattern of the tread markings.  Then he looked down the alley he had seen the figure run into last night.  He walked down the alley scanning the ground carefully.  He found a similar boot print on the soft ground several yards down the alley.  More plaster drippings.  The police had found this one. He squatted down to examine it.


“Returning to the scene of the crime,” a voice came from behind him.


“Hey, that’s not one bit funny.” He turned to see Katie standing behind him.


A half smile and narrowed eyes gave her a look of mischief. Jake stood to face her.


“I wasn’t intending it to be funny,” she quipped.


She was cute, not beautiful, maybe a little pretty but definitely cute.  The sun in her hair brought out her red highlights. Her skin had a healthy glow and her smile somehow it lit up her whole face.


“What are you doing walking around by yourself?  I thought they would have an armed bodyguard watching over you.” Jake asked.


“My brother’s coming in later tonight to spend a week or so.”


“Older brother?”


“By one year.  That’s all the protection I’ll need.”


“Oh really?”


“He’s a linebacker.”


“I see.” Jake pictured a gorilla with freckles.


“I thought they would have you sequestered to protect you from the rumor mill.”


“I got a little cabin fever, needed a run to clear my head.”


“So you thought you’d jog over here.”


“I wasn’t paying attention.”


“So your subconscious decided to jog over here.”


“Something like that.”


“Find anything interesting?”


“Boot prints.”


“So what do you think that means?”


“By the size, definitely a man.”


“Ok, Sherlock anything else.”


“The tread is from a work boot.”


“So not a hiking boot or cowboy boot?”


“Right and because the police took so much interest in it I would guess that it appeared at the scene of the crime.”


“Do you really think so?”


“It’s just a guess.”


“Wait a minute, our stalker could be the campus attacker?”


“It’s really just a theory.”


“A very frightening one.”


They had meandered over to Kaitlin’s apartment as they talked.


“Do you mind if I get a drink of water?” he asked.


“Sure, you want it straight out of the garden hose or would you prefer a glass and ice?”


“A glass but without ice, if it’s not too much trouble.”


They stood at the base of the stairs leading up to Katie’s loft.  Her bicycle was parked by the railing.  She lifted it to carry it up the stairs.


“Here I’ll get that.” Jake took the bike and hoisted the cross bar up on his shoulder as he had seen Katie do the night before.


“My, you are so gallant.”


At the top of the stairs she stopped to unlock the door.


“Sorry this is as far as you go buster.  House rules no men in the apartment, when we are home alone.”


“Who made that rule?”


“My mother did. Trust me she would know if I violated it.  She always knows.”


“I respect your mom, so I’ll wait here,” he said handing her the bike.


Katie brought back the glass of water and Jake guzzled it down.


“Thanks.” Jake handed her the glass.


“You’re welcome.”


“May I call you?”


“Why on earth . . .?”


“Look I’m just really confused right now about some things and it would help to have someone to talk them out with.”


“Like a therapist?”


“Like a friend.”


Katie was completely baffled by this turn of events, but she saw the pleading in his eyes.


“Sure, but you realize that you and I just met last night and not under the best of circumstances.”


“I know.”


“Look, try and talk to your friends first, they know you best.  But if you feel like you need to, you can call me.”


“Thanks.” He replied


“Do you need my number?” she asked.


“No I got it,” he laughed.





(Add scene with another suspect)





Sergeant Yeargin flipped through the notebook.  He had written down several names that seemed to reoccur as character sketches.  Many of the sketches didn’t have names attached to them but with the descriptions they should be able to track down who they were.  He was now convinced that who ever was watching the Moore girls’ loft was also the attacker.  The boot impressions they had taken from the attack sight matched the ones from behind the bushes at the Meacham’s house.  The attacker had visited that location several times.  So Yeargin had concluded that they weren’t a target for an attack but that the assailant was there for something else.  Sergeant Yeargin felt like he held that something in his hands.  The attacker must have realized that Katie was watching him, taking notes on his behavior.  He wanted the notebook.


It pained Sergeant Yeargin to look at this list.  He knew some of these people.


The nature of the attacks and the boot size seemed to exclude a female attacker.  He would make a list of any males listed in the book more than once.  Look for any suspicious behavior that Katie thought worthy of an entry in her notebook.