Cale Dixon and The Women of Cho (the sequel)

Cale Dixon sequel

Cale Dixon and the Women of Cho is a sequel to Cale Dixon and the Moguk Murders. It will be released in 2012. Here is a taste of the mystery and murder envolved. There are other sequel chapters scattered throughout this blog.

Victoria stopped at Cale’s apartment door and waited for the small crew of handpicked forensics officers, equipment in hand, to climb the stairs behind her and regroup before she made a brief statement and let them in Cale’s apartment. “Again, I want to thank you guys for taking your lunch hour to do this, ‘off the record’. Cale wants to turn in a report, but not until he sees the information first. Is that cool? Does anybody have a problem with that?”

The three male forensics officers and a woman photographer shook their heads looking at each other, then back at Victoria.

“Great. I guess we start right here at the front door, yeah?” Victoria moved out of the way.

The woman photographer stepped forward and asked, “So detective Dixon arrived home, entered and thinks someone broke in, drank a couple beers and took some pictures off his dining room table?” The photographer took photos of the door and the marks on the scared door jamb adjacent to the door knob and the bolt lock.

Victoria shrugged innocently, “They are not just any photos. They’re personal case photos. And that’s all he said was taken.”

The photographer backed up, “I’m good here.” She stepped to the periphery and the others stepped forward and started dusting for prints all over the door, the jamb, and the knob.

The photographer, waiting and killing time asked, “How are his knife wounds anyway?”

“They’re good. He’s at the hospital right now having a check up.” Victoria’s phone rang. “I’ll be back in a minute. I’m going to take this outside.” Victoria answered her phone as she headed down the stairs, “Hello? Victoria Short.”

“Victoria? This is Captain Hooker.”

“Hey Captain. How’s it going today?”

“Good. I just came from your office and the interns said you had some errands to run so I thought I’d call to check on Dixon. Have you heard from him?”

“Oh, Cale seems to be doing pretty good; he took himself to the hospital for a check-up, I think he’s there now.”

“So he’s up and about?”

“Yeah, seems to be. Why?”

“I was hoping he would do some research from home. Martin thinks he’s got a couple leads on the Cho Museum case that he wants Cale to check out.”

“I was planning on visiting Cale after I got off work. Do you want me to have him call you or Martin?”

“No. Just tell him to come in tomorrow for a meeting with Martin and myself around 9 am. I left a message on his machine a couple days ago, so. . . .”

“Okay. I’ll tell him when I see him.”

“Thanks. See ya.”

Victoria hung up and called Cale to give him an update before heading back inside but he didn’t answer. The forensics crew was standing out front of Cale’s flat all waiting for Victoria to reach the top stair.

“What? Is the door not open? Cale said he would leave the door unlocked.”

“It’s not that. The door’s open.”

“Then what are you waiting for? We only have an hour.”

“This is going to take longer than an hour and we can’t do the job without reporting it.”

Victoria reached the landing and looked into their faces, “What are you talking about?”

“Take a look for yourself but don’t you dare touch or step on anything besides clean carpet.”

Sarcastically Victoria replied, “Or what? Will I contaminate a crime scene?”

“Absolutely.”

The crew moved aside and Victoria entered the apartment.

“This is ridiculous. It’s a simple break in.” Victoria walked in slowly and saw a thin trace of dried blood droplets on the carpet leading into the kitchen where she saw the broken beer bottles and can opener on a plate and a smeared bloody hand print on the refrigerator door. Another blotted trail drew Victoria into the living room. In the middle of the room sat the limp form of a bloodied woman leaning away from her wrist bonds tied to the back of a chair. Her blood matted sun bleached brown hair had stiffened, concealing the source of a coagulated thread of blood originating from her facial features. Blood had soaked down her blouse and partially pooled on her skirt, moderately leaking through to the chair and to the carpet below. The blood had begun to dry and darken around the edges. A gust of wind flapped the window curtains and fluttered the sliding glass door drapes into the room. Victoria saw blood on the open screen door handle and stood transfixed – gripped by the scene before her.

One of the forensics crew walked in slowly and approached Victoria. He stood behind her for a moment before interrupting her riveted state, “I’m sorry Vic. We’ve got to call this in.”

Stunned, eyes focused, mesmerized by the sight of a bleeding corpse, Victoria spoke softly, “Of course you do.” Her brain knotted around the image. She snapped out of it and turned to nod at the photographer, “Do it. Just – do whatever you have to do and I’ll try and find Cale.”

“I don’t think you should do that,” warned the photographer. “Let the police handle it. That’s what they do.”

“Cale is a cop. He didn’t do this; he couldn’t have. He can barely walk!” Tears emerged from Victoria’s eyes and her voice trailed off into a high pitched squeal of trauma, “And he’s bleeding.”

The photographer took a photo of the refrigerator and coldly shrugged at Victoria. “I hope you’re right.”

Another forensics officer asked, “Does anybody recognize her?” He watched the others shake their heads and some raise their shoulders. The officer closest to Victoria asked, “Victoria, do you recognize her?”

Victoria shook her head.

Still talking to Victoria the officer questioned, “Is it his girl friend? Maybe she’s been in your office or you’ve seen her with Cale somewhere? I don’t know.”

“Cale doesn’t,” she swallowed, “He doesn’t have a girl friend – not that I know of.”

Insensitively the forensics officer replied as he knelt down in front of the victim, “Not that you know of?” He looked up at the woman’s face in the chair, “You should look at this woman; she’s gorgeous.” He searched his buddy’s faces and the woman photographer for confirmation.

“She was gorgeous. Past tense,” said another officer.

Victoria spun around and half defended her pride, “I’ve worked with Cale for a year in the same office, not twenty feet away from him. I, of all people, would know if he had a girl friend; no calls, no messages, nothing! This is not his girl friend! Stop with your bullshit assumptions! And do what you came here to do!” Victoria rushed out of the apartment confused, on the brink of tears. She ran down the stairs desperately searching her pockets for her cell phone. She called Cale. Beyond the phone, Victoria over heard the forensics officers chatter.

“Maybe it was a sex thing gone badly.”

The woman photographer laughed and replied, “Yeah, way bad – you idiot.”

“She is drop dead gorgeous.”

I didn’t want to say it.”

“You guys are cold and heartless.”

“Yeah – we get that a lot.”

There was no answer from Cale.

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*