Chaos
Church was called to order. It was our regular one.
Mishap wasn’t here again, but he had an excuse.
He was at my house, with his cousin, recuperating.
The ride home and the visitors he had had tired him out.
When I left to come to the clubhouse for church, he was asleep in one of my extra bedrooms. Bianca was there, and so was Cambria.
“How’s Mishap?” Wrath asked even though he had been over to see him a couple of hours ago.
“Tired. He was asleep when I left. Bianca and Cambria are with him. He ate dinner, then conked out.”
“Yeah, she wanted to go over and see if she could help Bianca in any way,” Shadow added.
“Good. If he, you, or Bianca need anything, let us know. Not sure how much care he’ll need, but you both have lives and jobs. Don’t wear yourselves out,” Wrath warned.
“We won’t. I promise I’ll let you know if we need assistance,” I assured him.
“Alright, well, now that we’ve got our brother home and on the road to recovery, it’s time to get back into the thick of things.
The work being done to find the rapist and narrow down suspects got sidetracked for a few days, but I know Shadow and the others have been back hard at work.
Tell us what you have,” Pres said to Shadow.
I’d put the whole thing on the back burner because of Mishap’s drama, but I was anxious to hear whether anything had been found. Shadow’s expression went from stern to satisfied.
“We made it through checking out the few employees who overlapped. They came back clean. Then, we got the list of the vendors’ people who drop off products at the gyms. One of them, a guy who restocks the drink machines, has been to every single gym on our list more than once.”
This news stirred the brothers, prompting them to murmur. Shadow kept going.
“We took his image, and after getting access to the security camera recordings at each gym, from both inside and outside cameras, we ran an image search of his face against them. Lo and behold, we found video of the guy inside the gyms not only when he wasn’t working but also sitting outside the gyms at various times during the day and evening.
And when he was there, the specific women who were attacked were checked in as being there.
As far as we know, he never approached them, but he had to be there watching them.
“And assuming he followed them when they left, he would know where they lived. Not sure yet how he discovered when they were going out and where, unless he was outside their places, lucked out that they left, followed them there, and saw his opportunity. He’ll be able to answer that,” Shadow concluded.
There was plenty of muttering and excited murmurs from all of us. I was excited that we’d made this much progress since last week. To have a name and evidence was good.
“How sure are you that he’s the one? Do you have any evidence that shows he actually went into those places the nights they were there?” Storm asked.
“Eyes are still checking out the videos to see if they can find him. We had to stop and come to church, but we left others working,” Crusher answered.
“Great work. All of you are making it so the hand of justice is closer to descending,” Wrath said.
Rage clapped his hands together, grinning. “You know what that means. We might soon be sending someone to Davy Jones’s locker. Oh, and the Thieves’ Hole will get a temporary guest.”
He was right. Davy Jones’s locker was an old pirate saying used to describe someone who died at sea. Rage loved all things pirate, so whenever someone was disposed of in Lake Oconee or any other body of water, we said they went to Davy Jones’s locker.
The Thieves’ Hole was another pirate-inspired name.
It was what we called the hidden prison we had beneath the storage shed on the back side of the compound.
It contained four cells. A stainless-steel table sat bolted in the middle of the open room.
Cabinets lined a wall, holding our various tools of the trade.
A small, enclosed room and bathroom for anyone who had to stay there on guard duty.
“How long do you think it’ll take for us to have final confirmation, or as final as we can get without speaking to him ourselves?” Wrath asked.
“I’d say by tomorrow morning at the latest. But there’s more…” Shadow paused and grinned at Crusher, gesturing to him with his hand. Crusher took over.
“I ran the guy’s name through various searches and dug into his life.
His name is Patton Sinclair. He’s thirty-three years old.
His work history is a mess. He seems to change jobs frequently, staying at each job no longer than a year, usually less.
And he moves frequently, not only within the same town but to other towns, and they are often a great distance from the one he left, including in other states.
I have a program running to see how many rapes have occurred in those areas during the timeframe he was living there that match what happened to the women here where the rapist wasn’t caught,” Crusher explained.
Excitement increased upon hearing this news.
We might know as soon as tomorrow if we have the right person.
We didn’t go after someone unless we were sure of their guilt.
None of us wanted to end up harming or killing someone innocent.
We had never cared about ending the lives of those who raped, murdered, kidnapped, and molested innocent women, kids, and men.
“That’s great work. Let me know as soon as you get the final pieces.
Once we have them and if they agree with our assumption, we’ll make our move.
To avoid delay, I prefer we hold off on discussing regular business tonight.
Instead, we’ll get our ducks in a row on what we’re gonna do and who’ll be involved in the capture versus the interrogation, and then disposal, so all that we have to do when the time comes is adjust for unusual circumstances,” Pres stated.
And just like that, we dove into our preparation phase. We spent a good hour on it before we felt we were set, and Wrath dismissed church. I didn’t hang at the clubhouse with the guys. I went home to make sure Bianca and Mishap were okay and to ensure they both got some rest.
?
I was kicked back in the living room, watching television with Mishap. He insisted on hanging out there for a while because his room was making him claustrophobic, he said. He wasn’t used to being immobile and in bed so much.
Last night, I came back from church to find him awake, so I filled him and Bianca in on what I had learned. Both of them had been psyched by the news, especially Bianca. Cambria had already left by the time I got there. She’d been tired, Bianca said.
This morning I got up, went to the office, spent the morning there, and then came home to finish the rest of the day. It was paperwork I had to work on, and it could be done anywhere I had internet access and my laptop.
I knew the three of us, like the others, were anxious to hear that the identity of the rapist had been confirmed as Patton Sinclair.
I wasn’t the only one who was home early.
To pass the time before we settled in to watch a movie, Mishap asked me to help him with his hair.
He wanted it all shaved off so it wouldn’t look so funny, and it would match as it grew in.
I was no hairstylist, but even I could use a pair of clippers.
I joked around, telling him all the cool designs I’d carve into his hair and leave him with patchy spots.
Bianca laughed when she heard her cousin’s threats of what he’d do if I did.
I had to agree it looked much better when it all matched.
We were watching one of our favorite action movies. In our opinion, it was one you could rewatch and never get tired of. Bianca was in the kitchen doing something. It wasn’t dinner time yet, but maybe she needed to prep it. I asked twice if she needed my help, and she said no.
The best explosion scene just started when my cell phone rang. I fumbled to mute the television and got my phone off the end table where I’d set it. On the screen was the name Wrath. My hands shook as I answered it.
“Hey, Pres. What’s up?” I asked.
Mishap’s gaze jumped to me. Bianca walked in from the kitchen, stood close, and listened.
“Are Mishap and Bianca nearby?” he asked.
“Yeah, they’re right here.”
“Chaos, I assume you told them about what we discussed in church and what we were still trying to find?” he asked.
“I did.”
“Then put me on speaker,” Wrath instructed, so I did.
“Go ahead, Pres,” I told him.
“Hi everyone. I’m calling to let you know I just received final confirmation.
Shadow and the others believe Patton Sinclair is almost one hundred percent our rapist. We won’t know for sure until we speak to him.
But we found that there have been patterns of rapes in all the areas he’s lived and worked for the past several years, ten years in fact.
And he originally lived in Sparta, which is where he was raised until ten years ago.
He moved not long after Elodie died. He’s been back in this area for the last five months.
“According to what Crusher, Shadow, and the others found, those rapes in other towns that match the same MO as the ones here involved more women who look suspiciously like Elodie. They also uncovered a sealed juvenile court record they got into. It seems when he was sixteen, Sinclair was accused of rape by a girl. However, when it came time to go to court, she couldn’t positively identify him, so the case was dismissed.
He had a great lawyer that his family paid for who got it thrown out and asked to have it expunged.
It was sealed. If he was accused that young, then it’s very likely he did it again and kept doing it, perfecting his technique. ”
The news took a few moments to sink in before I could say anything.
“That’s great news. Are we meeting? When will we make our move?”
“I want everyone to meet in church at seven. We’ll get our last updates and make our move.
They have eyes on him. Somehow, that sneaky bastard Shadow got Nomad to put a tracker on Sinclair’s work vehicle and his personal one.
We’ll know whether he moves, unless someone else picks him up, which we’ll pray doesn’t happen.
Bianca, I want you to take a few deep breaths.
It’s about to be over. And we’re gonna know whether he hurt Elodie or not.
And believe me, if he did, we’ll make him pay,” Wrath promised.
“Thank you, Wrath. And I know you guys will. Just make sure you don’t get hurt or caught. If it’s too dangerous, we’ll find another way to get him,” she replied.
“I hear ya. See you at seven, Chaos. Mishap, you’re welcome to hang, but it’s not necessary. You’re still recovering.”
“Pres, I’d like to be there even if all I can do is listen and maybe talk,” her cousin responded.
“Good. Glad to have you back. Later,” Wrath said before he hung up.
I went to Bianca and wrapped her up in my arms. As I hugged her, I whispered to her. “It’s going to be over, Binx. I feel it.”
“God, I pray so, Chaos,” she whispered back.