Great Deception

Chapter 1 Sullivan's eyes were closed, feet on the desk and he was grateful for a few quiet moments. Digging his phone out of his shirt pocket he listened to a message that just came through. “It's time to put your detecting skills to a real test. You have been involved in solving three serial killing sprees as of late. You will soon see, they are child's play compared to the challenge I am about to pose. Be on guard and watch the family. We shall meet again... soon.” Sullivan slowly planted his feet on the floor and leaned back as far as his swivel chair would allow. He listened to the message again. Turning his head, he watched the snow begin to build on the sill of the window. The forecast was calling for a foot of new snow or more by morning. Normally, he would be concerned about getting home to his small family, but this message crowded out those thoughts. He could feel his body slump as he considered facing another madman on the loose and worst of all a concern for his family's safety...AGAIN. That family also consisted of the men and women he worked with. “Helen,” Sullivan shouted, “Contact the whole team and get them in here asap. And ask the local police to watch my family for the time being.” “The weather may make that difficult.” “I know, but like the mail, nothing shall keep us from our appointed tasks, or something like that. You know what I mean.” “I'm on it boss.” Helen is Sullivan's second girl Friday. He married the first one, Ann. Helen is the epitome of efficiency. She anticipates his almost every need. Every morning his messages and memos are always laid out in order of importance and what has become a joke between them and a wonder to every one else, one sharpened pencil is positioned neatly beside them. After settling down in his chair, the first thing he does is flip the pencil into the air so that it will stick into the hung ceiling tile just over his head. Not all of them manage to stick, but there are at least two dozen that have. She once warned him that one day one would fall out and plant itself squarely in the middle of his slightly balding head. He only smiled, but cast a wary eye heavenward. Before the team arrived, he called Ann to let her know he wouldn't be home until late and that there would be a police car out front. Ann accepted this news in stride. He then left the office to buy some bagels and donuts for the team. Wrapping his scarf around his neck and pulling his ball cap tightly on his head, he forced the door open and was greeted by a blast of cold air and wet snow. He had to lean into the wind and partially cover his face as he sloshed his way to the cruiser, thinking this was a mistake. It would only be more difficult later as the snow piled up, but he trudged on anyway. Once seated in the cruiser and the door closed, he had to search his pockets for the key and for a moment feared that he might have left it behind. Patting his chest, to check his top shirt pockets he breathed a sigh of relief. Reaching in after removing his gloves, he fumbled them into the ignition switch and turned the key. There was a loud blast and pillar of fire that lifted the back of the car about five feet. Sullivan's face hit the steering wheel nearly breaking his nose. A few moments later, although stunned, Sullivan forced the door open and fell into the snow. A minute after that, Helen was bent over him. She was not wearing a jacket or hat, but did have on some warm boots that never left her feet at work. It was the cold draft along the floor she couldn't get used to. “I have called for help,” she told Sullivan as he looked up at her trying to focus. She was holding a tissue on his nose trying to stop the bleeding. Just then, his phone rang. Helen dug it out of his jacket pocket. “Should I read it to you Cole?” He simply nodded. She read: “How did u like that? It could have been deadly, but I'd rather play for a while.” Helen looked at him with alarm and gently tucked the phone back into his pocket. Without another word, she lifted his head and put it on her lap. She began to shiver as the snow began to cover her head. The sirens were in the distance, but Ted was closer. Running up to the two of them, he tore his jacket off and wrapped it around Helen. “Let me take over Helen,” he said. He then tucked a jacket, that had been handed him by one of the onlookers who had gathered and placed it under his head. Noticing that her hair was covered with wet snow and her face and clothes were getting wet, “Helen, I need you to go back inside and get warm. The EMT's are almost here.” Helen looked at Ted with sorrowful eyes, “Okay, but make sure you hold this tissue over his nose.” She then looked down at Sullivan and heard him whisper, “Thank You.” She patted his face lightly and with a forced smile she rose slowly and shivered her way back across the parking lot slipping and nearly falling twice. Helen only admitted to being in her late forties, but was actually in her early fifties. She was fastidious in her appearance and work. Since taking over for Ann, Sullivan knew he would be at a loss without her. A minute later the EMT's took over. Sullivan was taken to the hospital and it was left to Ted to call Ann with the bad news. This was not the first time Ann had received such a call, but this one was no easier than the others had been. Sullivan grew up in southern Maine, about 75 miles south of where he now lay. Since he was just a kid, he always saw that part of the country as a small slice of paradise. It is where he knew he would someday settle in and enjoy his old age. He wanted to follow in his father's footsteps. It is a part of the state that lay thirty minutes from the Atlantic Ocean and about an hour from the Appalachian mountains. In between there were many lakes, both large and small that offered good fishing, which was a passion of his. He was in his early forties, physically fit with dark hair that was thinning slightly at the top. A light scar graced the left side of his face that Ann would often run her finger along when they were intimate. It seemed to add to his s*x appeal. After they were married she had admitted that it was one of the things that she first noticed. It was part of the bad boy thing, she also admitted. As Sullivan rode in the back of the Rescue van, he feared that he might not be there for his family and never make it to retirement. Over the past four years, since taking over the Homicide Investigation Unit headquartered in the state capital, Augusta, Maine, he had faced deadly situations many times and he and Ann had discussed several times the idea of resigning and starting some kind of small business. The dilemma, for both of them was the fact that he was good at what he did and knew that someone had to do the job of guarding the gates while people went about their daily lives. So here he was, once more, in the midst of another dangerous situation and knowing Ann would once more have to consider the possibility of going on alone to raise their son. While laying there, he decided that this time he was going to move Ann and Adam out of the danger zone, maybe out of state. He knew the difficulty would be talking Ann into leaving for a while.