Chapter 2

Alice was looking for a real challenge to her skills, but she hadn't found anything, yet. So far, she had solved a murder and a bank robbery, but neither one was much of a challenge. She wondered if that was going to be the way of it; some investigations could be tedious, but someone with her powers really had no trouble tracking down the culprit. She would just keep plugging away and a real challenge might eventually turn up.

She was sitting at her desk in the agency office working on knitting a sweater for Bruce for a Christmas present. It was to have an orange body with blue sleeves, something really garish, but festive. It was kind of a joke, but she hoped that he would like it. She felt no pressure to finish it by a certain deadline, she could always jump in time to get as many days as she needed to complete it before Christmas.

She was happily knitting away when the phone rang. Alice actually sighed in relief, maybe this was a case she could work on. She said into the phone, "David Smith, Investigations. Good morning, how may we help you?"

The voice at the other end of the line said, "Good morning, this is Det. Sgt. Robert Tomlinson of the Atlanta Police Department. May I speak to Mr Smith, please?"

Alice did a quick scan of Tomlinson's mind to find out what he wanted and to get a general picture of the man's attitudes and feelings. Now, this was a case they would be interested in. "I'm sorry, Sgt. Tomlinson, but Mr smith is out of town right now. However, one of the agency's best operatives is in the office right now. Would you like to speak to him? His name is Harold Anderson."

"Mmm... Yes, I suppose so. The matter is rather urgent."

"Please hold and I put him on the line."

"Hello? Det. Tomlinson? This is Harold Anderson. How may I be of service?" Alice said in her Anderson persona voice.

"We have an unusual case for Mr. Smith's consideration, Mr. Anderson. I am not at liberty to discuss it over the telephone; could you drop by my office this afternoon about 3:00 and I will give you the details?"

"Certainly. I'll be there at 3:00. Goodbye, for now."

"Goodbye"

Alice jumped to her EU bedroom and disrobed. She changed into Harold Anderson and got dressed. She spent an extra few minutes practicing walking around; she didn't want to "walk like a girl" when she met Det. Tomlinson. Her quick scan had revealed him to be something of a male chauvinist and she didn't want to alienate him. She was going to have to be on her toes; this meeting would take all of her acting skills.

Hal grabbed a bite to eat for lunch and brushed his teeth before jumping ahead to 3:00 PM and into an alley next to the police headquarters. He walked up to the receptionist and asked to see Det. Sgt. Bob Tomlinson, "I have a 3:00 PM appointment."

"Certainly, Mr. Anderson. I see if he is available." She called and Tomlinson said that he would be right out.

Tomlinson showed up before Hal could get comfortable. Hal stood and the two men shook hands. They were on a "Hal and Bob" level before they reached Bob's desk. Hal did a mind-scan on Bob as they were walking so that he wouldn't commit some stupid error because he was not really a man; however, Hal was satisfied by the time they got to Bob's office. They sat and Hal accepted a cup of the worst coffee he had ever tasted! The pot must not have been cleaned for at least a month! Hal blessed one of his great superhero advantages: he turned off his taste buds and managed to drink the foul stuff.

After a minimum amount of chit-chat, Bob got to the point. There was a serial killer operating in Atlanta and they could not get a handle on him. They were grasping at straws and hoped that David Smith's agency could help them. They would pay the same rate that the FBI did, if he accepted the job. Hal said, "That will be acceptable. How can we help?"

"There have been 14 murders of middle-aged White men in the Atlanta area, all killed in the same way. A sharp object, an ice pick, was driven into the left ear and moved around enough to do a good job of scrambling their brains. We've got the murder weapon and there are no finger prints. In every case, the weapon had a rough wooden handle that did not take a usable print.

"The victims were found on the bed in sleazy hotel rooms, naked as the day they were born. There was no sign of a struggle, but the beds were always badly mussed. The room was always rented by the victim and the hotel clerk had no memory of anybody accompanying the victim.

"In some cases, there were cigarette butts in the ashtray, but the cigarettes all came from packs carried by the victims.

"Right now, our best guess is that the murderer is a hooker. If that's the case, we have almost no chance of catching her until she screws up. That's why we need help. So far, the newspapers and radio stations have cooperated by not making too much of these murders, but we've got to stop them soon before the shit hits the fan!"

"OK. I start on the case right away. I don't have any other commitments right now, so I am free to start the investigation. May I have a copy of the file to study?"

"I hoped that you'd say that! I have the file right here and we'll find you an office and a desk you can use. Please come with me."

Hal read through the file and could make no more sense out of it than the police had. For appearance's sake, he made some notes, but his eidetic memory made that completely unnecessary; he had the file memorized as fast as he read it. He fiddled around a while and then returned to Tomlinson's office. "Here's the file, Bob. I've made some notes and I'm going back to my office to make some calls to my contacts. I'll be in touch."

Alice took a comfortable seat in the house in EU and contemplated her options. The obvious thing to do was to POV back to the first murder and watch it take place. If necessary, she could look at others, but she really didn't think that would be required.

The first murder took place on February 17th, so Alice POVed the hotel room from noon until somebody rented it. She jumped ahead in 1-hour steps until she found some occupants; then she jumped back until the time when they entered the room. As expected, it was a man and a woman. Alice jumped in 5-minute steps, slow enough to follow the action, but fast enough to keep the action interesting. Besides, she had always wondered what prostitutes actually did. She didn't know if this one was typical or not, but she was curious.

The woman turned the bed covers down and slipped something under one of the pillows. Alice didn't see what it was, but she figured that it was the murder weapon. Both people took their clothes off; there was nothing sexy about that, they just disrobed.

They lay side-by-side on the bed and the woman played with the man's penis and balls until he became erect. Meanwhile, the man rubbed the woman's breasts and nipples and her pussy in a somewhat perfunctory manner. After a while, he mounted her and began to move in and out. She lay there, not moving, until he became completely absorbed in his pleasure.

She slowly reached under her pillow and pulled out an icepick, which she held in her right hand. She forcefully jammed the icepick into the man's head through his left ear and twisted it around. She appeared to orgasm as he died!

After a few minutes, the woman appeared to recover herself from her orgasm and pushed the man off her. She left the icepick in place sticking into his ear. She calmly dressed, took all of the man's money, and left the room, locking the door.

Alice used POV to follow the woman out of the hotel and watched as she strolled down the street. The hooker went into a small restaurant and into the rest room. Alice got bored watching the woman sit on the toilet and let her attention shift. Suddenly, the woman was gone! A blond had walked into the stall and an brunette walked out. The facial features were similar, but this was not the same woman! Alice did a deep mind scan and found that this woman was a suburban housewife who had come into town on a "shopping" trip which was just an excuse for window shopping, and was now headed home.

This was very confusing! How could Alice make such a stupid mistake? She simply could not understand how she had gotten confused and crossed up her shadowing job. The best idea she could come up with was to repeat the surveillance and see where she went wrong.