With Cruel Intent (23 page)

quickly and efficiently. Furthermore, we

have been assured if outside resources are

needed and requested that they will be

made readily available to this office. I

cannot stress enough that in both of these

crimes; the victims were not physically

harmed. They were shaken up, as anyone

would be under similar circumstances, but

neither victim confronted the subject in

question or was assaulted in any way.

We believe the public to be safe

for the present time but vigilance is the

key. I'm going to go out on a limb here and

predict that we're not dealing with a

classic

serial

criminal

as

you've

suggested, but I believe as we thought in

the first instance, that this is more of a

prank, most likely kids with too much time

on their hands. Thank you for coming; we

will notify you when we are prepared to

release further details. Good day.” He

slipped his aviator style sunglasses on but

gave the annoying little reporter a stern

look over the top of the shades before

sliding them on fully. Questions continued

to be fired at him as he turned his back on

the small group and walked up the stairs

that led to the front entrance of his domain.

Sheriff Lupo was a very no

nonsense kind of guy, from Italian descent

but raised in the suburbs of Savannah, he

spoke no Italian but could understand

some of the older family members that

spoke a combination of English and

Italian, he liked to call Itanglish. His

father had served in Vietnam as a grunt,

fighting the Viet Cong in the fields and

villages all along the Laos and Cambodian

borders. He’d returned home with two

Purple Hearts, Silver and a Bronze Star

and had taught his son the value of

patriotism, love of country and the

importance of selfless service. Angelo

had learned at a young age that there was a

time for patience and understanding and a

time to kick some ass. Well into his third

term for the people of Lowndes County,

Sheriff Lupo was elected rather than

appointed, he was not only respected but

liked by the populous, and in the most

recent election he had run unopposed.

Early in life his friends had

nicknamed him ‘The Wolf’, as Lupo

denotes wolf in Italian, but more for his

tenacious personality, once he set his mind

to something he wouldn’t leave it alone

until he’d conquered it. This ‘never give

up’ attribute had served him well as

Sheriff. 'The Wolf' was a big man, 230

lbs, with a broad hairy chest, tight abs and

arms that had done their share of lifting.

Two tours of duty in Iraq with Delta Force

had honed his skills and his compassion

for the weak and oppressed. He’d seen

battle not only in the streets of Baghdad

and Tikrit, but also on almost every major

military base on the planet. He’d held the

Heavyweight Division Championship belt

for 8 years running and his knockout

record still held firm.

It had just been over 24 hours

since they discovered Ms. Katherine

Criddle lying near her entry on the floor, a

small bruise on her temple but otherwise

unharmed. Finding her living room in its

reorganized

state

with

the

words

emblazoned across her wall, ‘We’re

Back’, was more than she could take and

she had fainted, hitting her head on the

edge of the television. First to arrive on

the scene were the Valdosta PD, two

squad cars blocked off the street and

cordoned off the area so a thorough search

could be conducted. Once they were

confident that the perpetrator was no

longer on the premises, they had allowed

the ambulance crew into the house to

assist Ms. Criddle and get her to the

hospital for a complete assessment. The

Sheriff’s Office arrived a short time later,

Angelo taking command of the scene after

extending his sincere thanks to the men

and women who had been first to assist.

No one was allowed into the house once

the ambulance had departed except for

Angelo who did a cursory walk through to

get his first impressions while the scene

was still untouched.

Several things stuck out in his

mind, and without a statement from the

owner, he was unsure if they were

pertinent or not. She had said, as they

were wheeling her to the ambulance, “He

moved my furniture. Who does that? Who

goes into a person’s home and rearranges

their furniture?” It appeared the motive for

the intrusion was not theft. Typically a

burglar wants to get in and out in the least

amount of time, capitalizing on small,

expensive items that won’t slow him

down as he makes his departure, but here

it was in reverse. He still didn’t know if

anything had been taken but the perp had

spent hours in this home. It would take

time and an agenda to perform such

unusual tasks. He stood facing the text on

the wall, saying the words over and over

again, letting it sink in and trying to

determine the meaning, “We’re back.

We’re back...Who’s back?” He suspected

this was in reference to the Riddle woman

and the connection between the two,

indicating that they had successfully

pulled off another break and enter, but he

still could not put his finger on a motive

other than that which he alluded to with

the press. Some individual or group was

having some fun at the expense of these

poor women and the authorities. Adding to

the list in his head, he noted that the

furniture was undamaged but simply

moved about in what might be considered

a functional layout for the items within the

room, however, the kitchen was a

different story.

'The Wolf' called the deputy with

the digital camera into the kitchen, “Get

some shots of this before forensics gets

here.”

The

deputy

carefully

and

methodically photographed the entire

kitchen, paying special attention to the

table and chairs and the items sitting on

the drying towel near the sink. Sitting

toward the top of the chair pyramid was

the small item that Katie had noted earlier

in the day. It had not been disturbed. The

Sheriff directed the deputy to get a couple

pictures of the item before he reached up

with a pair of rubber tipped tweezers to

bring it down. He closely inspected the

picture, checking the front and back of the

Polaroid image before placing it into a

clear, plastic evidence bag.

“Sheriff, Sheriff Lupo, the K-9 unit

is here,” another deputy yelled from the

driveway as a station wagon styled

sheriff’s vehicle pulled in front of the

house. A petite woman dressed in a

uniform stepped out of the wagon and put

on her hat, brown sun-streaked locks

extended from the hat to her shoulders,

framing a pretty face with an upturned,

button nose. Her skin was darkly tanned

with a golden hue accentuating taut, lean

muscles. She stood five foot two and

could not have weighed more than 120

lbs. Deputy Natalie Guest was the newest

member of the department, with little

experience but a fiery temperament.

The tiny young graduate had

quickly won the respect of her male

counterparts when, on her first day, one of

the men had jokingly patted her on the

bottom and said something about her small

stature. Her response had been quick and

decisive. She had spun, jumping in the

same motion, bringing both legs high off

the ground, whipping the right leg out with

the foot extended to the height of the male

officer's nose, breaking it across the

bridge. Her skills, demonstrated for the

office, left little doubt that the young

officer could take care of herself. Being a

black belt from the age of 17 had paid off

on more than this occasion, but she had

felt bad and admitted that it was an

overreaction. The officer in question was

now her most vocal supporter and he

enjoyed the friendship that had developed

since the incident.

Natalie had been hired to serve as

a full time deputy based on one skill and

one skill alone, she had an uncanny ability

to communicate with dogs. Her reputation

had preceded her with the highest

recommendation from the academy where

she had received her training. They had

reported that it was almost magical the

way she could read a dog's signals and the

animals responded to her like no other

trainee. 'The Wolf' had been looking for

such an officer for some time and was

happy to bring Ms. Guest into the fold. He

suspected she would have to win the

hearts and minds of the other officers, as

each new recruit had done prior to her, but

he was surprised in the manner in which it

happened, however, a broken nose is

much easier to deal with than a sexual

harassment claim.

Officer

Guest

retrieved

the

shepherd from the back of the K-9 Unit

and stood near the vehicle awaiting

instructions from her boss. A moment

later, the Sheriff exited the home and

approached the small woman. Seeing the

hulking frame of Angelo towering over

Natalie was almost comical as the other

officers looked on. Her size made

absolutely no difference to Sheriff Lupo,

he knew of her abilities and he intended to

capitalize on them to help solve this

crime.

“Officer Guest, we believe the

intruder spent a fair amount of time in the

house, so the dog should be able to start

with a good scent. Spend a few minutes in

there and once you’re satisfied that you’ve

got the scent, lets see where it leads us.

Based on our first assessment of the place

it looks like he must have entered from the

rear, probably crossed the fields behind,

and jumped the fence. Anyway, take

Officer Breland with you and see what

you find. Must have had a car stashed

somewhere nearby. Call if you find

anything or need backup.”

“Will do boss,” the young officer

said, tipping her hat and pulling on the

leash, “Come on Otis, let’s catch us a bad

guy.” The dog obediently followed his

master, excited, obviously loving the work

he did, tail bouncing from side to side in

anticipation of the hunt.

The pair entered the front door of

the house, noting that nothing appeared to

be in disarray. She led the dog around

allowing him to smell everything that the

perp could have touched. She gave him

enough leeway on the leash so he could do

his own exploring but not allowing him to

take off on her. He moved from the living

room down the hallway to the bedroom,

stopping to take a minute to explore the

doorknob with his sensitive snout.

Entering

the

master

bedroom

he

immediately went to the side of the bed

where the thief had broken his toes. The

dog issued a signal to the handler

indicating that this was a hotspot, a strong

scent there. He moved about the same

room but kept returning to the side of the

bed before moving into the hallway to

explore the other rooms. He spent little, if

any time, in the spare room, bathroom and

laundry room, indicating to Officer Guest

that the intruder had not entered these

rooms. Otis trotted to the kitchen where he

was frantic, jumping up and placing his

paws on the sink area and smelling the

dishes that were there, followed by a very

close inspection of the table and elevated

chairs. Lastly he stood by the back door