Night Crawlers and Day Dreamers
By Lisa

A sense of urgency was again growing within the department, as each day passed, and soon time would claim another week. Worries that the serial killer would bring death to claim another couple.... Chris and Rita were so close to catching this guy, they could feel it. After interviewing the families and reexamining the files yet again, it became apparent that a handyman had indeed been at each of those houses within weeks of the murders. What shocked them was that each family also had the same baby sitter, Gina Lawrence. The handyman's name was not known for every one of the homes that had been broken into, but in four of them, the handyman had been a twenty four year old man named Billy Crago. And when they pulled up his file, they found several charges on him, but none of them had been murder, and most had been before he had turned twenty one. He became their number one suspect though.

They didn't have anything on Gina, but they still needed to question her, so after they grabbed some sandwiches from the roach coach, they ate them as they drove to the address written in Karen’s notebook. It was a small rundown house, not in the best part of town. The yard was littered with beer bottles and other trash. As they got out of the Le Baron, Chris noticed some men hung over a car that looked worse then his charger, working on it. One of them looked over towards Chris and Rita, and said something to the others, who laughed. Then all three of them walked over, looking both detectives up and down. It was Rita who they decided to focus their attention on, giving her some vulterous looks and causing her to squirm a little. Chris noticed this, and stepped forward, blocking the mens' view of his partner. His eyes shown none of the twinkle they usually held. His face was set firm, and hard, and he took the same stance a mother bear would when protecting her cubs. His body language spoke volumes to the men, but it only seemed to trigger them even further. "Well, well, what do we got here, Jake... Looks like you got yourself some pretty fine company here.... What ya do?" said a greasy guy, as he smiled , showing his rotten teeth.

"Excuse us, we're looking for a young girl named, Gina Lawrence... We have this place as her address", said Chris "Do you know her?"

"What she go and do now?' asked the man named Jake. "Who are you anyway?"

"We're from PBPD, and we are investigating a murder. We just need to ask her some questions concerning a family she baby-sat for, that's all." Rita said, despite the fear she had of drawing more attention to herself then she already was getting.

Jake smirked at her now, as he raised his eyebrows at her.

"You sure are one good looking cop, that's for sure... How come I never get a cop like you when I get arrested, huh?"

"Guess ya gotta go and kill somebody, Jake!" shouted out one of his companions, as they all laughed at his statement.

Chris cut in on their fun.

"Sam,.. You go see if she's in the house, while I talk to the guys, here."

He wanted to get her away from them. Both their eyes and their legs were roaming, as they slowly were taking steps closer to him and her. Chris casually pushed his jacket back , allowing them to see his gun.

"Sam, huh?... Come on over here Sam,... I want to show you my own gun, huh? You got a pair of them handcuffs with ya too?" the guy snickered , as he reached out, close enough now to pull on her shoulder. Chris whirled around, his gun already in his hand.

"Get your hands off her now, or I'll blow your a hole through your head!" he said, with a quiet calm in his voice.

Jake hollered out now. "Joe, what are you , stupid... Let her go, she's a cop for crying out loud!"

"Hey!... I'm just trying to make your partners acquaintance... She's a pretty little thing.... No harm intended" said the man called Joe, as he released his hold on Rita.

"Rita,... Go up to the door, and knock on it... But don't go in, got that... I'm gonna keep these guys here company."

Chris watched as she walked up to the porch, his hand still holding the gun on them.

"You ain't gonna find her here, COP, she ran off with that boyfriend of hers a few weeks ago."

"Look, she isn't my responsibility no more, the day she turned eighteen, I told her to get out,... Hell that girls lucky I put up with her as long as I did, me not being her real father and all. I should have gotten rid of her the day her mama died, cuz she's ain't been nuttin but trouble for me since. She was never right in the head as long as I've known her, but she's been gettin worse for awhile now. If you find her, don't bring her round here, cuz I don't want her, she's not my problem . Jake kept on speaking, while Rita waited by the door , and fuming inside over this mans words. She actually hoped Gina really wasn't there. When no one answered the door, she knew her wish had come true.

"She's not here, Sam" Rita came back, and stood real close to Chris again.

"What is your full name?" she asked Jake.

"Jake Edward’s... Why?"

"Mr. Edwards, we need you to come down to the station with us, we need some questions concerning Gina answered." said Rita.

"Hell, no! I ain't done nuttin wrong, and I ain't going to no police station.... You can ask me right here if you want."

"Mr. Edwards, that isn't an option... Now if you will please get into the car, we'll have you back here as soon as possible" Rita raised her voice, and the despise she felt for Jake Edwards was clear. She stepped forward to him, ready to lead him over to their car. Chris was right by her side. Jake had spent quite a lot of time in police stations, and not once had it been a good experience for him, he was not going to one today, that he was certain of. He looked his brother Joe and his friend Boomer in the eye, sending out his signal to them. Joe was the first one to move, and he made sure it was him who got the lady cop, now that he had Jake’s permission. That was their mistake. Chris hadn't seen the look Jake had sent, but Rita did. As Joe approached and grabbed her arms once again, Rita brought her knee up, right in his middle, and with as much force as she could muster, she let him have it.

Joe shrieked out in pain, and released her, falling to the ground, and whimpering.

Then Rita turned her attention to the other men, who were both after Chris. One had Chris's arm raised in the air, trying to get his gun away from him. Pulling out her own gun, Rita fired off a shot, aiming it to go right by Jake’s head. That got the reaction she wanted from them, and they turned, giving Chris the few seconds he would need to gain control again. It was enough , and ten minutes later, Chris and Rita all three subdued and handcuffed sitting in the back seat of the backup car they had called for.

Chris and Rita talked to other cops, then headed back to their own car. He touched her arm lightly, seeing she had grease all over her jacket.

He whispered to her, a tightness in his voice "He didn't hurt you, did he?"

She looked up at him, with a pout on her face, sensing his mood.

"No, I’m fine.... The bastard ruined my clothes though... Damn!... This was the only jacket I had that went with this skirt too!"

Chris looked over at her, seeing she was serious, and laughed.

"Sammy, you were damn near attacked back there, and all you worry about is your clothes?... Ha!"

She looked over at him now, acting as if she was offended.

"I wouldn't say I was almost attacked Chris.... I know how to take care of myself!"

Chris nodded his head in agreement with her, still laughing. "Oh, yeah, Sammy, I saw that too... Really Sam..., for a second there I actually envied that man... That is until you had him on his knees," Chris was still laughing

Now Rita joined in with him.

"Oh, too bad, Sam... That's the part I most enjoyed myself" She paused then, again getting serious....."Still, I wish I wouldn't have went up so hard, because when my foot came back down to the ground, it landed on something , and look... Now my heel broke too" she was frowning as she leaned over to examine it.

"I just bought these shoes too!" she whined.

"Come on, you Silly", he said, pulling her to the car, as she kept grumbling about her clothes and shoe.

Now Chris was close to hysterics. He closed her car door, and walked to his side of the car, still laughing... And thinking of how much he loved that woman.

On the way back to the shop, his laughing stopped, and he was silent.

"Your quiet all of a sudden, Sam... What's up?" asked Rita.

"Nothing Sam.... Just thinking." he said.

She saw her chance to get back at him for his laughing at her.

"Does it hurt?" she smiled.

Chris looked across the seat at her with the look, the one he knew always got to her.

"Just for that, miss Smarty Pants, I’m not going to give you the surprise I was just thinking about... Your gonna be one sorry lady now, Sammy. HA!"

Now it was Rita's turn to pout. Chris pretended it had no affect on him at all

At first it was like pulling teeth, but once Jake realized these cops really had no interest in him, and Chris subtly implied that they just might nose around more in his life... Getting what they needed to know about Gina from him, was like opening a can of worms. Jake told of how he had married Gina's mother, and a background check on him told them how Gina's mother had died of an overdose of cocaine. Jake said he had continued taken care ... If that's what he called it, thought Rita..... Of nine year old Gina. He had been arrested several times for his alcohol problem, and the Children’s Agency had been around several times to investigate Gina's home life, but nothing had ever actually been done about it. According to Jake’s Police records, a sixteen year old Gina had accused him of molesting her as she was growing up, but later recanted her story, telling them she had been lying. The officer in charge noted that Gina had been wearing a cast on her arm at the time, claiming she had fallen down the stairs.

Rita wasn't surprised to learn that once Gina had met a boy, she had taken off, her first chance to escape the hell of her own life, and she felt her heart go out to the young girl. It was Chris who asked the next question, the one that would send shivers down Rita's spine, and bring their case even closer to the end.

"Would you happen to know the name of Gina's boyfriend?"

"Yeah... I know him... The little punk ripped me off fifty dollars once..... He wasn't any better then her... His name was Billy.... Ah... Billy Crago, I think... No, that's definitely it, Billy Crago... He went after Gina when he came over to my place for a "business" deal. He 's a little older then her.... Knew how to charm her to get what he wanted... And like I told you, Gina was never too smart in the head to begin with, she fell for his routine, hook, line. And sinker.

Rita's head shot up like lightening, as he said Billy's name. Billy Crago, the name of the handyman in four of the victims homes... And most likely in the others as well. Just as they had guessed, there was the connection, other then Gina. Chris looked at her, reading her mind. Shortly after leaving Jake to deal with the charge of assaulting police officers, Chris and Rita sat in Caps office, putting the finishing touches to the story.

"Look, I think your onto him, but it's still not enough... You have to have more ... Besides the links, you don't really have anything that would make a jury convict..... George would laugh in your faces if you handed this to him now"

Cap hated seeing the smile that Rita had come in with turn into a scowl towards him.

"He isn't leaving us anything to go on, cap, and soon, we might be adding his next house to our list, if we don't hurry with this... We can't let that happen..... I can't stand by and just wait... I won't!" hollered Rita.

Harry Lipschitz looked over his glasses at his young sergeant. He was taken by surprise with her sudden attitude, usually it was her partner that was the loose canyon, not her.

"Sergeant Lance! I Understand you want to get this guy... We all do, but there is a protocol we all must follow here! You will calm yourself down right now, so we can put our heads together and think of how we'll go about doing just that, do you understand!" ... Ouch... His ulcer was acting up again.... Damn hothead detectives!

Rita lowered her head, knowing he was right. She was just disappointed that they couldn't go now and bring this guy in. "Sorry, Cap."

Chris watched her from his chair. He reached over to her and rubbed her shoulder, as he spoke.

"What ideas have you got , cap?" he asked.

Cap watched as Chris kept rubbing his partners shoulder. His touch seemed to be doing wonders on her, because she already looked her usual level-headed self again. As long as he had known these two, it had been Rita who had this affect on Chris, but now it was the other way around. Somehow, he had a bad feeling about what he saw, despite that secretly he was thrilled... Oh yeah, his stomach even sensed it wouldn't be long now..... Ouch.... Damn... His best detective team.

"So what do we do?.... It’s just that I want this all to stop now.... I feel like it's never gonna end sometimes, you know? All this killing.... It just doesn't ever stop." she tried to explain her reasons for getting upset. Cap knew exactly how she felt... He had often felt the same way himself. He looked at both the detectives he and his wife had come to care for deeply, as if they were their own children.

"I know , Rita, I know.... But we will get this guy"

'"We sure will" Chris said, now giving her shoulder a final squeeze.

"He's not living at his last known address... And we have no idea where Gina is either.... We assume, going be Jake Edwards statement, that they are together." said Chris.

"Edwards said that Billy Crago had a way with Gina... What I'm thinking is that he was using her to gain any information he may have needed. Maybe came to visit her during a baby-sitting job, got the layout of the house.... Found out what type of security he needed... Whatever he couldn't find out working there himself, he could get from her." Rita continued Chris's thought, once again.

"So you think she's in on this with him, then?" Cap asked.

Rita hesitated, before going on.

"I'm not sure Cap... I'm still wondering about that... She had a pretty tough life growing up, and now she thinks she's finally found someone willing to love her.... Maybe she is making up excuses for him.... A way to explain to herself her reasons for helping him..... I just don't know.... She just turned eighteen... It's such a waste.... But it is entirely possible that she doesn't know anything ... He could be on his own in this, so....."

"So what we need is something to pin these murders on him, maybe them both.... Aside from catching him in the act itself, we might not get anything else, at least not in time to stop them before they strike again... Which means we have three days...."

They spent the rest of that afternoon in Caps office, and before they left that evening, a plan to catch the Palm Beach Night Crawler was formed.

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