He was in the break room, pacing when Detective Marcus came in and asked, "What's eatin you Saunders?" Francis spun around, "Oh I don't know Marcus!" He snapped, "Let's see, there's a little kid missing from her mother, dumb ass in there remembers the important things from the abduction because the mommy was 'hot' and I couldn't get to the crime scene because that goddamned Senator Jasper's beautification project has the road shut down! What would make you think something was wrong?" Marcus shook his head. "Sorry I asked," he said as he walked out of the room. Francis knew he could be overbearing but he couldn't figure out what would possess someone to ask such a ridiculous question, especially another cop. The last time he could remember feeling so helpless was when Amanda Marks went missing in 1998. She was taken right off her backyard swing set and now, another child had been abducted in broad daylight on a very busy Boston street. He had no idea how much worse it was about to get

Code of Corruption

By A.M. Thompson

AuthorHouse

Copyright © 2010 A.M. Thompson
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4490-9289-4

Chapter One

Billie sat on the bench running the events of the past month over in her head. She knew something wasn't adding up but as yet had been unable to put her finger on it. Tammy Willis' piercing scream brought her back to the present just as Frankie pulled Tammy's hair.

"Okay you two!" She yelled, "Do you need a time out?"

Frankie let go of Tammy's hair, a few strands still clinging to his fingers. The two mischievous children stood listening as Miss Younger reprimanded them both. Frankie let his head drop to his chest as Tammy whimpered softly and wiped her eyes with her dirty hands. "I hate you Frankie." She pouted.

"Well, I hate you too, Tammy smammy!"

Billie couldn't help the smile that formed on her face. 'They'll probably end up getting married one day.' She thought. Billie smoothed Tammy's hair and straightened her dress. "You two need to play nice. Frankie? No hair pulling. Do you understand me?" His large eyes dropped as he nodded his head.

"Tammy? No more pushing okay?" With pouting lips, both children nodded and quickly ran across the playground.

Billie Jo Younger was nearly thirty years old and her biological clock had been ticking loudly for quite a while. She loved children and had a special place in her heart for each one at the Franklin Center. She could feel her eyes begin to well up at the sight of a new born and dreamed of one day having a child of her own. She hadn't imagined that it would be so late in her life. She and Leland had been living together for three years and he still wasn't showing any signs of wanting to start a family. Whenever her biological clock began to tick, Leland would hit the snooze button. Lately, she'd found herself crying much more than usual and sympathy wasn't one of Leland's strong suits. As a matter of fact, it was becoming increasingly difficult for her to see any of the good qualities that had attracted her to him in the first place. Oh, he was good looking. He had the kind of smile that could charm the pants off any woman and he wasn't lacking in the other department either. He was however, very self centered and egotistical. What was the word Maxi had used? Spoiled! That was it! He was spoiled rotten. At thirty-three years old his temper tantrums were like that of an unruly child and had a way of making Billie feel that his unfortunate luck was her fault. No matter if he brought it on himself, and he usually did, she could be sure to get the blame. Maxi had been telling her for three years, as long as she'd known him, that Leland was sucking the life out of her. Each day she was feeling less like herself and no longer felt as though she had a purpose in life. Her schedule at the Franklin Center was Monday through Friday, caring for other peoples children. Friday and Saturday evenings she spent as hostess at The Social Light, a local theme restaurant. Working two jobs wasn't a problem; it was everything else in her life, or rather everything that wasn't in her life. Her mother Sadie had suffered for a long time before succumbing to cancer and she still missed her very much, especially when she needed someone to talk to. Maxi Reed had been Sadie's life long friend and she, as well as Billie, believed that although the cancer had eaten away at her tiny body, Sadie had really died of a broken heart. Albert and Sadie Younger had married young and dedicated their entire adult lives to raising their children until one cold, Massachusetts morning when Albert suffered a fatal heart attack. Maxi had said on more than one occasion that Sadie had stayed alive as long as she had for her children's sake. Otherwise, she would have given up long before to be with Albert on the other side.

Billie looked across the playground to see Tammy and Frankie playing together in the sandbox. She glanced down at her watch. "Okay kids," she said, "everyone in line please, it's time for a snack." She shuffled them all inside and one by one they washed their face and hands and formed a line, each picking up a cookie and a carton of milk before returning to their tables. Billie wasn't looking forward to working her second job. It was Friday night and although she normally enjoyed her night job, this evening she was feeling a little sorry for herself. She felt like taking a long, leisurely soak in a hot tub of bubbles, surrounded by soft candlelight but that wasn't going to happen. Billie helped the children clean up the toys. Soon the parents would be lined up in front of the building. She could feel herself sinking into a weird kind of funk that was very unlike her and lately the sadness she was feeling even showed in her normally sparkling, blue eyes. During times like these she would call Maxi but she knew what she would say. First it would be, 'you know you're the only one that can make you happy; then it would be, 'you need to get rid of that man, he's selfish and insincere. Maxi had said those words time and time again. She also knew Billie would have to make up her own mind in her own time about Leland. She put the last child in the back seat and closed the door. A little cleaning up and she could go home, shower and head out to her other job. She knew she had to pull herself out of her pity party and get in gear. Then and there she made a conscious decision to start her life over. If Leland was going to be a part of it he would have to make some serious changes as well. Would he be able or even willing to do it? Time would tell.

Lindsey sat on the back steps of her small house, smoking a cigarette. Her hands shook as she raised it to her lips for another drag. Her thoughts kept going back to the previous day's argument with her husband Avery. As usual, money was at the root of the problem. For the past two years they had been struggling financially, which caused more strain on an already strained marriage. Avery's income had been sufficient until they had Emily. When she was born nearly two years before, they thought they had it all. Lindsey worked as a waitress and both incomes seemed to be enough. That is, until Emily got sick and Avery's insurance didn't cover all of the medical bills. When Emily was six months old Avery was out of town on business. He was attending a conference in Arizona when Lindsey called in hysterics. Emily had turned blue and wasn't breathing. Lindsey had rushed her to the emergency room knowing that if she waited for the ambulance it would be too late. Once the doctors had taken control and the baby was breathing, she called her husband and her sister Billie Jo. By the time Billie arrived at the hospital Lindsey was inconsolable. She paced the hallway, crying and praying. Billie promised her that everything would be alright but Lindsey was a basket case by the time the doctor came out. He explained that Emily was stable but Lindsey was so upset that she couldn't absorb anything he was saying. Billie took her by both arms and explained that one of the valves in Emily's heart wasn't getting enough oxygen and they needed to do surgery. Lindsey didn't know what to do. She needed Avery but he was on an airplane somewhere.

By the time his plane landed and he'd caught a taxi, traffic was at its worst. He tried repeatedly to call her but her cell phone battery was dead. The ride to the hospital felt endless and the only thing going through Avery's mind was that he would be too late. Billie sat with her sister for hours waiting for Avery to arrive and by the time he came running down the corridor Lindsey didn't have the strength to get up and go to him. Long hours of crying and blaming herself had taken its toll, she was exhausted. Billie got up and gave her brother in-law a quick hug, whispering to him that Lindsey had been blaming herself because their father had died of a heart attack. She had assumed that her own genetic makeup had been the cause of the defective heart valve in her daughter. The doctor said he didn't think it had been a genetic defect but she really wasn't listening. All she could think of was that she had brought her child into the world only to suffer and there wasn't a thing she could do to change it. Avery knew his wife well enough that trying to convince her that it wasn't her fault would be pointless so he wrapped his arms around her and reassured her that Em would be fine and that he loved her. The hours seemed to drag on as they waited for word from the team of surgeons that held their daughters life in their hands. By the time the doctor emerged from behind the double doors, everyone was emotionally and physically drained. Avery held onto his wife as the doctor approached and when he told them that the surgery had been a success and their daughter would be fine he held her tight as she sobbed with relief.

As she sat on the back steps smoking and thinking, she said a silent prayer thanking God for saving her child. Emily had been completely healthy since the operation and the checkups had all gone well. Unfortunately, the hospital bills were in excess of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars and that was after the insurance had paid its part. She and Avery had been fighting about money constantly, as if fighting would solve anything. He had been working as the regional manager for Streamline Paper for nine years and although his paycheck had been sufficient, it wasn't anymore. The previous evening he had come home with what he considered great news. He needed to make more money but in order to get the bump in salary that they needed he would have to transfer to Nevada. When he told her he would be making ten thousand dollars more per year she was ecstatic, then he told her about the transfer and her heart sank. Within a matter of minutes she had gone from elated to deflated and the fighting had begun.

She had grown up in Massachusetts with her sister Billie and her brother Albert, the only family she had left. After Sadie died she and Billie had become very close and although Albert was living in New York and working on Wall Street, they remained close as well. She didn't want to move clear across the country but if they were going to make it, they really had no other choice.

Detective Adam Sanford sat quietly at his desk doing the one thing he hated about being a cop, paperwork. His life had calmed down considerably since The Back Bay Butcher had been apprehended and he was enjoying the slower pace. A month had gone by with no major psychopaths running amok in the city but of course there was always the occasional dumb ass that he could always count on to do something stupid. He knew if not for those dumb asses, he would be out of a job. As he sat at his desk typing a report on the latest robbery he thought back to the previous month and how much worse it could have turned out.

In a six-week period, seven young women had been brutally raped and murdered, all of which had been bound with duct tape and the only evidence left behind had been a trace of semen on each girls face and in the palms of their hands. The problem was that with each new murder the semen sample belonged to a different person and no fingerprints had been left at any of the crime scenes. When 'The Butcher' had finished with each of his victims he stabbed her in the side of the neck, killing her instantly, but not before cutting off the pinkie finger of the left hand. For seven weeks every cop in the city of Boston chased their tails, coming up with exactly nothing. Their first and only break had come in the form of a streetwalker named Dixie. She had witnessed the sixth murder and could identify the man but she was scared. He had seen her watching him and she immediately went into hiding. After the seventh girl was murdered Dixie decided to come forward, not only to stop the killings but because she didn't want to be next. Adam had questioned her after the sixth girl, Rachel Carson, had been murdered but she'd said she didn't know anything. By the time the seventh girl, Rebecca Delancey, had been killed, Dixie was ready to help. With her help and the assistance of Mallory Cates, a very pushy local reporter, they literally got lucky when the Butcher was identified from a photo taken at one of the murder scenes. While on the hunt for the Butcher Adam had also been helping a friend, Vince Montgomery to identify a young woman who had mysteriously appeared in his life. With both cases closed it was time to take a breath and catch up on the dreaded paperwork. Something he had let pile up for at least a month.

As an only child and a military brat, Adam had never had many friends. He knew plenty of people but he really hadn't let anyone get close to him other than Vince Montgomery and his wife Suzanna. They were the closest thing to an extended family that he had. The Montgomerys had also recently celebrated their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary with a gala event that would make movie stars jealous. Everyone from the Mayor to some of the wealthiest families in Massachusetts had been in attendance. The Montgomerys had taken the opportunity to do some fundraising at the event, something not unusual for them, netting just fewer than eight hundred thousand dollars for the local children's homes in the Boston area. Adam sat back as he ran his fingers through his sandy blonde hair and tried to relax.

Billie was dreading going to work at the restaurant but she hopped on the train and went anyway. When she arrived at The Social Light it was busy as usual. Happy hour had begun at five o'clock and being Friday night it looked as though every business person in the city was there to drink away their troubles. Billie smiled and took her place at the hostess stand. The dcor was done in a Broadway theme and although the waiters and waitresses wore costumes from different Broadway shows Billie was dressed in a twenties style skirt and jacket. She wore her blonde hair up in a twist as she resembled a woman from 42nd. Street. She put on a smile that very few people would be able to tell wasn't actually genuine. She led the guests to their seats and as she walked, she gained the attention of the men in the party as they watched her behind sway from side to side in the form fitting skirt. The women laughed and one of them slapped her husband's arm as he ogled the hostess. Billie smiled and her cheeks flushed as she seated them and walked away.

Billie Jo Younger moved into the city seven years earlier. She had grown up in Hanover, a small town just outside Boston. She had been planning to move back to Hanover when she met Leland three years before but he'd talked her into staying in the city and moving in together. Lindsey and Avery still lived in Hanover with Emily and Billie made a point of having dinner with them at least once a week. She adored her niece and didn't want to miss any part of her childhood. Lately, she could feel the tension between Lindsey and Avery and had been begging off on dinner. Her own relationship wasn't all that rosy either. Her sister hadn't said anything but Billie could tell that neither one of them cared much for Leland. The one time she had brought him to dinner with her he had dominated the conversation and interrupted every time she started to speak. After dinner Avery had said to Lindsey that Billie's boyfriend was a selfish know it all and he didn't care if he ever saw him again. Leland worked as one of the many licensed psychologists in Doctor Truman's office, a local psychiatrist. Although Billie was licensed in child psychology, Leland always had a way of making her feel stupid and recently it was really beginning to irritate. For weeks she had been noticing that he would conveniently be asleep when she got home from work. If she cuddled up to him she could feel his body go rigid and rather than have sex with someone who didn't want to, she would roll over and go to sleep. Come to think of it, the sex had become somewhat of a chore and she wasn't all that upset about not having it with him. What bothered her most was that they didn't have anything to talk about anymore. She knew it was over with Leland months ago but she didn't know how they'd gotten to the point they were at now. She tried to focus on her job but her thoughts kept going back to something he'd said the day before. She'd been gathering the laundry together and when she pulled his suit from the closet she smelled perfume that wasn't her own. She had mentioned to Leland that he could at least try to hide the fact that he'd been with another woman but he did his usual two-step insinuating that her insecurity was causing her to behave irrationally. His excuse had been that one of his female patients had hugged him. It wasn't the first time she had noticed the smell of another woman but each time she brought up the subject, he managed to manipulate her into thinking it was all in her head. She was an extremely bright woman but Leland practiced his technique on his patients on a daily basis and had become very good at making her feel insecure about herself. As she stood at the podium she knew in her heart, as well as in her head, that he was using her vulnerability for his own purpose. She was losing herself a little more each time she allowed him to manipulate her. She needed to put an end to his game and it needed to be soon.

(Continues...)

Excerpted from Code of Corruptionby A.M. Thompson Copyright © 2010 by A.M. Thompson. Excerpted by permission.
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