Braddock (working title) Prologue

BRADDOCK


Prologue

Jerry arched her back and stretched, trying to loosen the kinks in her back from sitting all night concealed among the hay bales.  She reached for the large thermos of coffee she’d brought with her, only to discover it was empty.  She had chosen to stake out the stables because she was certain that those who had stolen
Mistral were planning on returning him tonight.  Slowly she looked around the stable and corrected herself…this morning.  She could all ready see the gray light of dawn tingeing the sky in the east and hear the arrival of the trainers, jockeys, and other stable employees.  Quickly she slipped out of her hiding place and joined them, going about their early morning tasks.  She had been working in the stable for the past two weeks, ever since Mistral had been stolen.  Apparently his owner had friends high up in the Human Violations Bureau and Commander Edwards felt it was good form to put one of his best grade one investigators on it, the fact that she knew her way around both horses and stables didn’t hurt either as far as he was concerned.

She stopped by one of the stalls to check on its occupant, as she turned to leave the stall she noticed a man across the barn, in the other aisle.  She knew immediately she’d never seen him around the barn and stable area of the track before, if she had, she would have remembered him.  He kept looking around as if
he expected some one else to be there with him.  Something about him seemed familiar to her…he was nervous.  No, not nervous, unsure of himself…that was it.  He was acting like a fish out of water, like she had for the first month after Nick’s death that was why he seemed familiar to her, he reminded her of herself.  He was used to having a partner at his side, someone he trusted, and now he was here alone for some reason.  He started to move down the aisle, towards the door to the track area.

“C’mon Billy Budd, I need your help to get down there and you need to be exercised anyway,” she said to the big chestnut gelding in the stall as she took his lead down from the hook just outside the door.  She clipped it onto his halter and opening the stall door led him out and down the aisle, after the stranger.

As he cleared the end of the building and went outside, he was intercepted by two other men coming out of the stable office.  She had seen them hanging around the stable the past few days, they fit in even less than the man they met did.

“So, those two are up to something, I was right about that.  Now let’s see where they’re going, what they’re up to, and how close we can get to them…ay Billy Budd?” she said to the horse she led, reaching up and scratching his ear as they walked. 

The men stopped within the shadows under the small grandstand by the exercise track.  It took her a few moments before she realized there was a fourth man all ready there, waiting for them.  Slowly she tied the horse to a rail as close as she dared get to the men and began grooming him; all the time paying close attention to the men under the grandstand.  They were arguing, she could tell that much.  Jerry wished she could hear what was being said, but she knew if she got any closer they would notice her and move off.

The two men that had come out of the stable office grabbed the man she’d never seen before by the arms and held him in place.  The fourth man took hold of the stranger’s arms momentarily.  When he released them he dropped something on the ground as if it burned him.  He looked for it quickly but couldn’t find it.  He turned back to the man being held and said something, before disappearing back into the shadows.  The two men holding the first man released their grip on him and spun him violently away, before turning and following the other man into the shadows.  The man collapsed on the ground, motionless, letting something fall from his hand as he did so.

Jerry continued watching the man for several minutes after he collapsed, wanting to be sure the others were gone before approaching the man lying on the ground.  She gently placed her finger on his throat to check for a pulse.  “Just what I suspected…he’s dead,” she murmured to herself as she removed her fingers.  She looked around quickly, being careful not to disturb anything and then went to report the incident. 

It bothered her that she had witnessed a murder and couldn’t do anything about it.  Six months ago she wouldn’t have thought twice about trying to stop it.  Of course she also would’ve had Nick to back her up then, she wouldn’t have been alone.

“That’s it!  That was why he seemed so familiar to me.  He was acting the same way I did for the first month after Nick’s death.  That was what had been so odd about him, he’d been working with a partner for so long that he didn’t know how to act without one,” she muttered excitedly to herself as she was running for the nearest comm-unit.

When she got back to the grandstand area the body was gone and the area beneath the stands had been raked clean.  “Damn!” she cursed softly.  She then looked around for anyone else in the area.  She saw Billy Budd’s trainer and went over to him.  “Jock, how long have you been here with Billy?”

“Since I saw you heading up to get his gear, why?” he answered, turning to face her, he’d been standing with his back to her as she approached.  “Hey, why didn’t you bring his tack back with you?”

“It’s a long story Jock.  Tell me, did you see any one around the stands, possibly under them?” she asked cautiously.

“No.”

“Did you see anything at all under the stands, like perhaps a body?”

“I told you, there was no one and no body under the stands.  What is with you this morning?” Jock snapped, getting irritated with her.

“I’m not sure, either I imagined the whole thing, or they never left.  They just waited until I did,” was her puzzled reply.”

“You’re not making any sense.”

“I know, sorry,” she said distractedly, heading back towards the stands.  She looked up as she heard the approach of the hover cars carrying the sweep team and Lieutenant Stephens.  The cars came to a rest fifty feet away from her.

Lieutenant Stephens climbed out of his car, pushing his sandy brown hair back off his face as he took in the situation.  Spotting Jerry he started towards her, shouting out “Lawrence!” as he went.

“Oh boy,” Jerry sighed, “Yes Sir?” she answered.

“I thought you said there was a murder here?” he snapped.

“There was Sir.  By the time I got back here, the body was gone.”

“Are you sure it was dead?”

“Yes, I’m sure.  I checked him before I left.  I’m not some wet behind the ears rookie,” she shot back defensively.

“All right Jerry, all right, calm down.  Show me where he was lying.  Maybe we can find something there. 

We’ll also know which group of securcams to check,” he said placatingly.

“You don’t believe me, do you?”

“I’ll admit, I have my doubts about this,” Stephens said.  He looked at Jerry and wondered if maybe she wasn’t having a delayed reaction to the stress of Nick’s death.  She’d been working alone for six months now, because no one was available to assign to her; and had refused to take any time off after Nick’s funeral.  In fact she had insisted upon investigating his death herself and had been furious when she was pulled off the investigation for insisting that it hadn’t been Nick who had died.

Stephens found himself questioning his own judgment in allowing her to continue working after that.  Maybe he should have insisted she take time off, or perhaps placed her on suspension pending the result of a psych evaluation.  That was all water under the bridge.  In the here and now he had to determine if something had actually happened or if Jerry’s mind was playing tricks on her. 

The team had found nothing in the area, and the securcams showed nothing as well.  They ran the recordings three times, the last two with Lawrence watching as well.  The location was right, the time was right, there just wasn’t anyone or thing there.

“Look Jerry, there’s nothing there,” Stephens began.

“I know what I saw Lieutenant.”

“I’m sure you do, but it wasn’t real, and I have to go based on the evidence at the scene.”

“Yes it was,” she insisted.

“Look at it from my point of Lawrence.  We have no evidence, no body, and nothing on the securcams.  All I have is the word of an exhausted and stressed out inspector.”  Jerry opened her mouth to protest.  “One of my best, but still exhausted and stressed out.  I’ve got no choice.  Based on the facts nothing happened here and I can’t authorize an investigation.”

“Sir, let me poke around, I’m sure I can find something.”

“No,” he cut her off.  “Look, Jerry, its real simple.  You’ve been borderline for the past six months, either you take a month’s leave time, or I put you on suspension pending a psych evaluation.  The choice is yours,” he said coolly.

“Not much of a choice is it?  Either way I’m off for a month, and this is ignored,” she replied sarcastically.

“There’s nothing to ignore, or haven’t you been listening?”

“I’ve been listening, and it’s all too convenient.  If I didn’t know any better I’d say someone planned it this way.”

Stephens just looked at her, exasperated and tired of arguing with her.

“I know,” she responded to the look on his face.  I sound paranoid even to myself.  I’ll take the month’s leave starting immediately,” she sighed, as she kicked the loose dirt on the ground with the toe of her boot.

“I’ll process the paperwork when I get back to the office.  Good call though Jerry, I’d hate to have to suspend you.”

Jerry nodded as he started back towards his parked hover-car.

“Jerry,” he called, stopping in the middle of the walkway.

“Sir?” she said turning back to him.

“While you’re out I’ll see what I can do about transferring you into metro.  You’re more than good enough.  Nick was the only reason you stayed here for so long.  He didn’t want to break in a new partner after you.”

“Thanks, I’d appreciate that,” she hesitated.  “It might be easier for me to get used to his not being around someplace new.”

“All right, I’ll see what I can do.  Go home, get some rest and try enjoying yourself for awhile.”  With that he climbed into his car and left.

Jerry looked around and realized that while they’d been speaking the sweep team had left as well.  She went back over to the grandstand area to look around the ground underneath it one last time before leaving.  As she turned and began to walk out from under the grandstand she kicked something in the dirt, under the dust, with her foot. “What?” she said softly as she bent down to pick up the object.  It was an
antique coin embedded in the dirt.  She dug it out and slipped it into her pocket, for some odd reason she felt it was important, she just didn’t know what that was yet.
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