"Solus Ipse" Part 5

The Jake's arrived at the newsstand and silently gave each other high fives for getting the Fairplay case. Jake Y. looked at the dead cashier and almost gagged for a moment when he got a good glimpse of the ink pen sticking out of his neck. Jake S. stood around not knowing where to begin. Jake R. saw what was quickly happening.

Excitement overload.

The Jake's had not been a part of a case this big in over a year. Jake R. pulled everyone together and motioned with his head for the area to be cordoned off. More officers arrived and began moving lookie-loo's and gathering potential witnesses. Jake Y. swallowed his vomit and smiled.

“This is so bad ass” he said. “Am I right?”

“You are so right its not even fucking funny” Jake S. said. “Donovan and Pritchard are gonna be so fucking pissed when they find out we got the case now.”

“They seriously will” Jake R. said. His phone rang and he snatched it up. “Hello? Yeah. Yeah. Ha! You wish! No, this is our case now, sweetie. Aw, you and your boyfriend mad at us? Too bad.” Jake S. snatched the phone away from Jake R. and continued talking.

“Hey, Donovan!” he shouted. “We can't believe you let this Fairplay fucker kill someone else! And what's even better is that we got it on tape! Yeah. Cameras behind the counter so we know who we're looking for. You don't even need to come to our crime scene. What?” Jake R. took his phone back. 

“We'll see you back at the station, cupcake” he said before placing the phone back in his pocket. “She said Lowes sent her and her man friend to watch how pros do it.”

“Maybe she'll learn a thing or two” Jake Y. said. “So let's watch that tape and see what kinda nut we're dealing with.”

***

“Shit!” Donovan shouted as she placed her phone back into her pocket. “Those three idiots are already there and probably fucking up the entire crime scene.” She looked at Pritchard who was driving quietly. “Again with the silent treatment? Fine. I didn't know it was your time of the month.” They arrived at a stop light and Pritchard sighed.

“I don't want to capture this guy” he said. The light changed to green and cars honked loudly but he did not drive. He checked the rear view and squinted. “Look at them. They don't know. No one ever knows what's going on in people's lives. They want me to go but they have no idea where I'm headed. I'm starting to realize that I don't even know. I've been a cop for this long and yeah I do some good, you know? We stop the bad guys. Usually.”

“Yeah” Donovan said. “Usually.”

“But this Fairplay guy” he sighed. “Why is it so damned hard? I just don't get it. We got hair, we got fingerprints. There shouldn't be any more deaths on our heads but there are and it fucking blows. It blows and I don't know if I can deal with it anymore.”

“You quitting, Pritch?” Donovan asked. Pritchard slowly pulled to the side of the road disregarding the honks and middle fingers aimed his way and parked. “You can't fucking quit. We got video of this...”

“The Jake's have video” he interrupted. “We don't have shit. And you know what they're gonna do with that video? Give it to the news. They are gonna give it to the news, this nut will see it, and he will disappear like hundreds of other nuts that get away with cold blooded murder. How can we even try and catch this guy when we're pretty much sounding an alarm that says 'Hey, we know exactly who you are! Turn yourself in, please?'”

“You know how sometimes Lowes talks about he good old days?” Donovan asked. Pritchard nodded. “I think its about time we start acting the way they used to.”

“You mean bang some hookers and beat our wives?” Pritchard asked.

“Maybe later” Donovan said while shaking her head. “We find this asshole on our own.”

***

Albert stood in front of a shop window and watched as an image of him killing a man at a newsstand played across three screens. A lady standing next to him slowly backed away and removed her cell phone and dialed 911. Albert looked at her and cocked his head.

“May I see that?” he asked as he snatched the phone from her.

“911 what is the emergency?” an operator asked.

“This is Albert Dukes and I may be the Fairplay Killer” he said as he looked at the woman.

“Don't hurt me” she said to him. “Please don't.”

“One day I woke up and there was blood on my floor and my head felt different” Albert said as he took a step towards the woman. She tried to run but Albert grabbed her by the arm and twisted it behind her back. She began screaming for help. Albert kicked her behind the knee and as she fell slammed her head through the glass store front window. The customers inside gasped and yelled as Albert pulled her back out nearly severing her head in the process. Albert took a deep breath.

“And when I took a shower a small amount of my hair was missing. Somehow it had been removed and it caused me great discomfort. I began to wonder if I had been wrong this entire time.” A large man exited the store and grabbed Albert around the shoulders from behind. Albert thrust his head back smashing the man's nose. He released Albert.

“Perhaps all this time everything I've done has had some form of consequence.” He kicked the man in the knee and grabbed a large piece of glass from the window and stuck it in the man's neck. Sirens could be heard in the distance.

“Freeze!” a security guard shouted as he aimed a can of pepper spray at Albert. “Jesus...” he moaned as he saw the two bodies laying on the ground. “Don't move!”

“But after a while I figured that none of this mattered. My pain was not real.” Albert stomped the glass even deeper into the man's throat. “I think I will sit here and see what happens.”

***

“Get your asses to TV Central off of 5th and Main!” Lowes shouted to Donovan over the phone. “Some crazy son of a bitch claiming to be the Fairplay Killer just killed two people!”

“What about The Jake's?” Donovan asked with a smile on her face. Lowes hung up. “Seems we're back on the case. That was easy.”

“Yeah” Pritchard said as he sped towards the location. “How do we handle this guy?”

“If I had my way I'd shoot him on sight” Donovan said. “But that wouldn't be very smart.”

“Well, I'm not feeling very smart right now.” Pritchard sped through four red lights before he remembered to turn the sirens and lights on. They arrived before The Jake's who were sure to be busy at their crime scene. A crowd was circled around someone who they assumed was the Fairplay Killer.

“Police!” Donovan shouted. “Clear the way!” She parted through the crowd who was not moving fast enough so she fired a shout into the air. They moved.

“Jesus Christ...” Pritchard said as he observed what had occurred.

Albert Dukes sat cross legged on the ground. On each side of him was a body. One a man and the other an older female who was nearly beheaded. Albert looked up and blinked a few times before slowly getting to his feet.

“Don't move!” Donovan said to him. He just looked at her and then at Pritchard.

“Why 'Fairplay'?” he asked.

“You have the right to remain silent, fucker” Pritchard said.

“Hands on your head” Donovan said as she tried not to notice that the dead woman looked far too much like her late mother. “Do it!”

“My head seems to be bothering me” Albert said as he placed his hands on his head. “Do you...”

“Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law” Pritchard said as he removed his handcuffs.

“Turn around” Donovan said as she got closer to Albert. She shivered knowing that she was going to have to get close to this guy. Pritchard snapped the handcuffs on his wrists, making sure they were tighter than necessary.

“How can I kill something that is not real?” Albert asked.

“Good luck with this crazy act in court” Pritchard said.

“I'm not crazy” Albert said as he turned to face them. “I've never said I was crazy. Do you think I am? It doesn't matter. None of this matters.”

“It'll matter when they fry your ass” Donovan said as they walked him towards their car.

“No” Albert said. “It won't.”

End of Season 1.

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