Slender Man Ch. 01

This story is part of an ongoing series. The chronological order of my stories is now listed in WifeWatchman's biography.

Feedback and constructive criticism is very much appreciated, and I encourage feedback for ideas.

This story contains graphic scenes, language and actions that might be extremely offensive to some people. These scenes, words and actions are used only for the literary purposes of this story. The author does not condone murder, racial language, violence, rape or violence against women, and any depictions of any of these in this story should not be construed as acceptance of the above.

Part 1 - Prologue

"This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Channel Two News!" yelled the lovely redhead MILF reporterette at 7:00am, Tuesday, March 7th, from in front of the State Office Building on the north side of Courthouse Square. "It is once again political chaos in the State Legislature, as the Budget bill is now gridlocked!"

Bettina continued: "Governor Val Jared is threatening to veto the Budget bill if it does not substantially cut money for the SBI, the State EPA, and other projects he deems 'wasteful'. The Senate Democrats have dug in their heels, and Republican Representative Wilson Hammonds, Chairman of the Ways & Means Committee that handles the State budget, says he is ready to work with Democrats to override any veto by Governor Jared. However, other Republicans have rebuked Chairman Hammonds, and said they will support only what the Governor wants."

"The Democrats, led by State Senator Katherine Woodburn of our 1st District," continued Bettina, "say they are fine with a budget crisis, because if a budget is not passed, spending levels continue at last year's pace. That means the SBI bill just passed will be in conflict with the budget, and Democrats hope to use that to create Court challenges to get a strong SBI reinstated."

"And in more local news, the deaths of two University students were resolved when Jerry Saint confessed to distributing the potent drugs that caused Lena Hill and Kate Noll to overdose and die at the club called 'Punk'." Bettina said.

"And speaking of 'Punk' and it's sister club 'Pink', they face an uncertain future now that the owner of the clubs, Kevin Greeley, is dead after being tortured, dragged behind a truck, and murdered by a white hatred group." Bettina said. "While groups of people are trying to keep the clubs going as a tribute to Kevin, creditors may move to shut the clubs down. This could end up as a Court battle..."

"Why is it so trippin' hard to make the SBI smaller?" asked Teddy Parker.

"And why are the Democrats fighting so freaking hard to keep it, and to use it to overlord on us," continued Joanne Warner, "when this latest Ferrell thing should be enough to show everyone that the SBI has been corrupt to the core!"

"You said the answer yourself." I said. "To lord it over us local LEOs. The Democrats believe in top-down Government, the Conservatives believe in devolution to the lowest possible level."

"Well, we gotta have something at the State level." said Theo Washington. "Drugs don't stop at county lines."

"Nor State Lines." I replied.

"It's a wonder they haven't made Commander Troy the SBI Director." said a very mischievous Sergeant Micah Rudistan.

"It's all I can do to keep them from doing just that to me." I replied.

"Why don't you run for Governor, Commander?" asked Teresa Croyle. "Then you can fix the whole SBI mess, not that you aren't trying to do that already..."

"You, Captain," I said as I waved my red crowbar in her general direction, "are trying to start trouble. And you are succeeding." Teresa gave what was for her a smile as she sipped her coffee.

"Where's Captain Ross?" asked Commander Della Harlow as she came in, handed me a can of coffee, then poured some of the brewed stuff for herself. How this happened I don't know, but I had become the designated keeper of the coffee cans. Probably because I strictly enforced payment in exchange for drinking what was made.

"Ohhhh, she might be a little late coming in, and that's okay." I said. "She was up late last night."

"I'm here, right behind you." Cindy said as she came in through the back door, the one to the back hallway. The noise of conversation in the room ground to a halt. Everyone was openly staring at Cindy, especially Teresa. They had astutely observed that Cindy was practically glowing.

"And a good night it must have been." Teresa said. "Damn, girl!"

"Oh yeah, that was one hot date!" Sergeant Rudistan said, grinning widely. Others laughed.

Cindy turned and peered at us, especially Teresa. "What, does it show that much? Or did this guy tell you?" A green crowbar was being pointed in my specific direction.

"I didn't say a word." I said... then added loudly "And yes, Captain, it shows that much." The laughter was more cheering than anything else.

It grew quiet in the room as we heard Bettina finish her newscast: "And finally," she said, "the Town & County Fire Department announced that their annual Spring drills, where Firemen train by going into a burning house that was built by the Town High School Vocational Department, will be watched by many elementary schoolchildren, in what Fire Chief Gillem says is going to be 'Fire Safety Day' in the County. He also hinted at a surprise for this event, so stay tuned for more details. And now let's go to Nick Eastwood for Sports! Nick!...

But all eyes were on Cindy.

"Come on, Captain!" Joanne Warner encouraged. "Spill it!" Everyone murmured agreement.

"I will not." Cindy replied, trying to hide a grin. "My private life will remain just that. See ya, and I wouldn't wanna be ya." To a chorus of "oooooh"s, and with a great amount of dignity, she pranced out of the room by the back door from whence she came in.

"That will not do." Teresa muttered, taking off through the door to the side hall to meet Cindy in Cindy's office. Now all eyes were on me.

"Don't even believe for a minute that I'm saying anything." I said. "You're Detectives, you figure it out." I unlocked the cabinet under the coffeemakers and secured Della's contribution to the klatch. "Seriously, let's get to work, people."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"Okay, okay." Cindy said as Teresa sat down on the loveseat sofa in Cindy's office, realizing that Teresa was not going to stop badgering her until she spilled the beans... and she wanted to spill them, anyway. "Callie came back to Town last night."

"Aw, that's awesome!" Teresa said, with as much enthusiasm as one ever heard from her. "Is she staying?"

"I think so." Cindy said. "Laura's hiring her to be her research assistant. Callie's staying with me right now, and she may just remain a majority shareholder in her porn film company, like I'm doing with the gym, letting others run it."

"Oh, so Laura hired her." Teresa said, with a 'knowing' look.

"Yes, you are thinking what I am thinking." Cindy said. "I, too, am wondering who might've suggested to Laura to consider hiring Callie... then got Callie to come back here."

"Obviously a man who loves his family." Teresa said.

"And takes care of his people." Cindy replied.

"Oh, wow." Teresa said. "I'm just... well, seeing you as happy as you are right now for the first time in a long time, it's a really good thing."

"Was I really that bad?" Cindy asked wonderingly.

"Did the Iron Crowbar take the time to fix it?" Teresa asked back. Cindy just smiled and nodded.

Part 2 - Of Mice and Crowbars

9:00am, Tuesday, March 7th. The Mouseketeers reported to my office: Detective David Krueger, Special Data Assistant to the Police Commander (Detective) Mary Mahoney Milton, and Supervisor Myron Milton.

"What got into Captain Ross?" asked Mary. "She's on Cloud Nine today."

"You looked like that after you started dating Myron." I craftily replied. Mary just smiled brightly, her orange-red hair glowing in the fluorescent light of the office.

"Okay guys," I said, "it's time to start getting no-kidding serious about some things. I need to know everything there is to know about Dr. Yarborough. By the way, does he have a first name?"

"I think he went by his middle name, sir." said Mary. "It was 'Stewart', and I'll check to confirm that."

"Please do." I said. "I also need everything you can get regarding his work at City University. If you have contacts there or at our University that can help, use them. But I need everything you can get."

"Sir," said Myron, "we'll do that, of course, but I might suggest that since he was in the Psychology field at City University, your best bet to get something might be from your wife or her contacts."

"Good point, and I'll get with her on that." I said. "But I want you to work on this as Detectives, not just as Data Miners. Squeeze every drop out of this turnip. I also need you to get as much as you can on Millwakee, who was there, and the families of whoever was there. Okay, did you ever find anything on that Federal facility just across the State Line?"

"No sir." said Myron. "It's too hot right now. They just put new classifications on it, and they're obviously watching to see who tries to access anything. I'm not good enough to get through all that undetected." I observed that the faces of my Mouseketeers looked a bit strained.

"I take it that there is not unanimity in doing that, as well?" I asked.

"Told you he'd find out." Mary said.

It was David Krueger who spoke up. "Sir," he said, "you are correct. We were not in agreement on how far to go into looking into that. I am not comfortable with any of us hacking into classified American Government information, even if it's for a good cause."

I nodded. "I get that." I said. "And you are right in that we need to gather our data legitimately. As you know, I do have a security clearance that allows me to see all but compartmentalized top secret data, and I can get authorization to see some of that if I need to. But yes, this Police Department is not and had better never become 'Wikileaks'."

David nodded. Mary looked amenable to it. Myron, not so much. He was his father's son, and while loyal to the country and the Constitution, that might not include elements of the Federal Government that were themselves acting outside legitimate boundaries.

"All right, guys." I said. "I want you to be saying the words 'Yarborough' and 'Millwakee' in your sleep. Let me know what you find as soon as you find it. You can go." They got up and filed out of the office.

As I turned to my computer screen, I realized I was going to have to reposition my chess pieces from the Mouseketeer group. Just another issue to take care of...

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The Black Beauty was speeding along the highway towards the City, with me driving and my wife Laura in the passenger seat. It was 12:15pm, still Tuesday, March 7th.

"Darling," Laura said, "let's take this car out one night and park in a farm field somewhere, and you can fuck my brains out like we're teenagers."

"Sounds like fun." I said. "Just a fantasy of yours, or memories?'

"Memories." Laura said, smiling. "There wasn't much to do in west Texas when I was growing up, and I loved getting fucked in the back of an old car... or a Corvette convertible. Did you ever fuck in a parked car when you were younger?"

"You know," I said, reminiscing, "I never really had to. Leanne and I fucked at her house, and I only fucked one other girl before I went to college. I wasn't all that sexually active back then. Certainly not like my sister."

"We'll have to make up for it." Laura said. "And I suspect the backseat of this car will do nicely."

"It is comfortable on the inside." I said.

"By the way... I'm not complaining," Laura said, which I knew was not really true, "but why are we going to the City in this car and not my Mercedes?"

"Because this car is giving out absolutely no radio signatures of any kind." I said. "Because it has a police light I can plug into the lighter and affix to the top of the car if we need to. And because it has a motor that is even better than the one in your Mercedes. And weaponry that your CIA Directorate would love."

"Oh, they already have their own versions of 'James Bond' cars." Laura said. "But I do like the stealth properties of this one."

"So how's Callie doing?" I asked, to change the subject.

"She's excited about being here." Laura said. "I didn't need to be you or your mom to see how good a night she had last night. Today she's enrolling in school. She has an Associates Degree from a small school in California, and I made sure those credits got transferred. After this semester, we can enroll her in a combined undergraduate-graduate program."

"Good." I said.

"Darling," Laura asked, "what if things don't work out between Callie and Cindy?"

"Well... first, I think they will work out." I said. "But if they don't, I think Callie will still be happy pursuing her degrees with you. And just hanging out around all of us."

"As a P.I.?" Laura asked. I smiled.

"Who knows?" I replied. "She really loved working with Eddy on that Jaime Silver case."

"Yes, she did." Laura said. "And speaking of being Detectives, what are you and I doing today?" Laura asked.

"Glad you asked." I said. "Here's my plan..."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The girl at the desk of the City University Library looked up in amazement when she saw who was walking up to her.

"Hello." said Laura. "I'm Dr. Fredricson from the University, and this is my handsome young assistant Don..."

"Oh Dr. Fredricson!" the girl practically squealed. "I'm such a fan of yours! I'm majoring in Psychology myself, and I've read a lot of your stuff!"

"Thank you, I appreciate that." said Laura. "I'm hoping you can help me out. I am looking for some old, old material on sexual experiments from a long time ago..."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

We were in the storeroom of the City University Library's Psychology section. A large number of papers and theses were on the metal shelves, as well as boxes of research of students and professors alike.

"Think we'll find Dr. Y's stuff?" Laura asked.

"If it hasn't been removed." I said. "And I'm looking for some even older stuff... from the 1950s or even the World War II era. So I'll start in some of these back corners, here...

Within 30 minutes, I found some boxes in a dimly-lit area of the storeroom. Only the letter "Y" was on them, but when I opened the boxes, I knew I'd hit gold.

"Honey," I called out, "I've got something."

Laura came over. Inside were a ton of notes, some wrapped in bundles of twine. I said "Most of this looks to be pre-Yarborough stuff, and I think he used it for his own researches. But in this bundle, I can see a few pages that say 'Millwakee 1976', 'Millwakee 1982', and so on."

Laura replied "I'm good friends with the head of the Psychology Department here, as well as the Custodian of these materials. They're not fans of the Police, though, so let me get these borrowed and checked out without them seeing you."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

As we were driving home, the boxes of materials in the trunk and backseat of the Black Beauty, I noticed a car following us in my rear-view mirror. I sped up some, and the car maintained pace, not falling back but not catching up.

"O-kayyyyy, we've got a tail." I said. "Did you bring a gun?"

"In my purse." Laura said. "Five shot .357 Magnum."

"Okay, let's have some fun." I said. I floored it. The Black Beauty leaped forward, the powerful engine revving up nicely and propelling us along.

"They're still behind us." Laura said as she looked back.

"And I'm going over 100 miles per hour." I said. "Okay, time to break radio silence." I got my Police radio, pushed a button that would put it on the Nextdoor County Police frequency, and called in.

"Commander Troy to NCPD, Troy to NCPD."

"Go ahead, Commander Troy." came back Molly Evans's voice.

"I am being pursued on the University Highway with a civilian in my vehicle, and I'm about to enter your county from the east. Can you arrange a welcome party?"

"Roger that." said a male voice, which I thought was Detective German's. "We are moving towards you now. How are you designated?"

"Green O65 Imperial Crown with old-style blue light on top." I said. And I did affix the blue light to the top and Laura plugged it in.

As I sped along and crossed into Nextdoor County, two NCPD Patrol cars whizzed by me.

"Oh yes," said Laura, "our friend is backing off, damn near flipped over doing a U-turn, and he's going the other way. Wonder who he was?"

"Former associates of yours, I would imagine." I said. "The material we just acquired might be what I need to prove my theory of what Yarborough and Millwakee was all about. And they won't like that."

The radio crackled: "NCPD to Commander Troy."

"Troy here, go ahead." I said into the radio.

"Your pursuers have broken off and are going back towards the City. We are unable to catch up and will break off the pursuit for safety reasons."

"Roger that." I said. "And thanks for your help."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I took the boxes to Town & County Police Headquarters, where Lt.(B) Janice Holloway provided a small army of Officers to help copy every single scrap of paper into digital form into the evidence servers. I then put that evidence under seal.

"How will we get this back to them?" Laura asked as we sat in my office. It was now 5:30pm.

"I could get Paulina to get us a warrant to confiscate it." I said. "Or would that make trouble for you?"

"Yes, it would." Laura said. "They'd want to know how it got from me to the TCPD, and I don't have a good answer, or even a good lie."

"How long did you ask to keep it for?" I asked.

"I didn't name a time." Laura said. "And they likely won't say anything until the end of the semester in May, or the end of Summer School in August."

"Do you have a very safe place you can keep this stuff?" I asked. "And I'm talking about a place safe from even the CIA."

"Well, since I happen to be familiar with their practices," my wife said, smiling, "I think I know where I can keep them until City U. calls and wants them back. If they call before June, I'm going to tell them I'm still using them for research, too."

Part 3 - Slender in Window

8:30pm, Tuesday, March 7th. The sun had set and it was dark outside. I had the blinds of my office down as a precaution, as I was poring over the data on my computer screen. It was fascinating stuff.

Data that had been captured from the Nazis had been brought to the United States after the end of World War II, and professors at City U. had been working with it. Eventually, Dr. Yarborough took possession of it and used it in the formulation of some of his own work.

Then there were notes from the early years at Millwakee. Most fascinating to me were the types of persons he wanted sent to him: aggressive young men, attractive fit women, all white and no minorities. Then notes from a few years later suggested including Asian women and extremely aggressive Asian men.

There were some ordinary things, such as construction plans for the camps, some bills for things like food. And then there were a few pages listing the names of 'patient's at Millwakee. Unfortunately, most of them were one-word code names, such as 'Red1', 'Red2', 'Blue1', Blue3', then names like 'Casey', 'Gretchen', 'Nancy'. Maybe those were staff, I thought to myself.

As I continued to look at the data, there was a knock on my door. It opened to reveal Lt. Molly Evans of the Nextdoor County Police Force. "Surprise!" she said as she came in.

"Hey there!" I said enthusiastically. "Where are Ross and Ian?"