New Form Killers

Electricty surged through her body until she had a heart attack. She was still breathing, though.

“Did you run the jewels?” Hunter Cobb screamed. “We’ve got ten minutes until the surveillance system kicks back on again.”

Karinda Crawfield walked out of the bedroom with a sack of stolen goods including cash.

Cobb kissed Karinda. Miss Mable Dennings had perished by the time they left.

At the station, Officers Guillermo Diaz and Trippy Bimmer tried to make sense of this latest string of home invasions and murders in Newark, Delaware.

“We’re looking at thirty-six over the period of seventeen months. Whoever they are, their methods are true and exact,” Detective Bimmer announced.

“See, that’s just it. We’ve got to make them stop. We’ve got to be ten twenty steps ahead of them. Their targets are senior citizens. All of the crimes have been carried out the same way.”

“I get it. What information do we have on that stun gun they left behind?”

“It’s still in the lab being run for prints. What I don’t get is how they know they’re elderly people. Do they check and see if these people get AARP in the mail?” Diaz asked.

“I can see where you’re going. I just think we’ll be able to nab these bastards if we put on a full dragnet and complete a canvassing of the entire city of Newark. They haven’t hit Wilmington…maybe too many street cameras. And that’s another thing. They’re able to evade the home surveillance cameras up until the right time,” Bimmer explained.

“Can you toss me that grapefruit?” Diaz asked. Bimmer handed his partner a bit of citrus. Diaz sat and sliced it. He then picked up a spoon and began chowing down on it.

“If there is nothing else that they’re doing it is being sloppy. They’ve been able to clear out entire households and know where the goods are. They’ve cracked cases and known codes to computer systems. What we should be focusing on is their cunning, not their intelligence. They’re not masterminds. They’re not geniuses. Their murderous thieves.”

Diaz chewed on his breakfast. “If we’re able to catch these brutes, we’ll see a drastic change that will allow these poor people to live with some sense of mind without being attacked,” he replied.

“When we finally make this a closed case with them in handcuffs, we’ll know that we’ll be able to sustain the peace, sure. What we’ll have to do as well is ensure to the public that we’re going to keep them all in our security. The skipper is going to address the public again. It’s a damn shame she has to put up with this nonsense. She just got the job four months ago. Shortly thereafter, these crazies started knocking off old men and ladies.”

“If we put more uniforms on the beat—” Diaz started.

“That may be a solution for the moment but they’ll get wise to that, too. The greater good—”

“There is no ‘greater good.’ Carry on, though.”

“You say that but what about all the lives that comprise a community?”

“Two things: they’re individual lives and there are no communities where these crimes are happening. They’re the neighborhoods that we serve and protect,” Diaz explained.

“Okay, okay. We can deal with semantics later. We’ve got another vic on our hands. We’re still ill-equipped to deal with most of the technological aspects of the cases.We’ve got to get someone from Wilmington to help us put these cases to bed.”

Diaz finished his grapefruit. With all of his strength and might he had to hold back tears as he thought of the deceased.