In Plain Sight -Chapter 2

The next morning Jack showed up at the station dishelved and reeking of day old coffee. Lena was already there flipping through the files of the now five open cases of assault. She looked well rested despite the late night call. He threw the New York Post down on her desk revealing the headline: Vigilante Evades NYPD Again. She brushed it aside.


"Nice of you to show up, Jack," Lena said. The sarcasm was not lost on Jack. "Pull up a chair and let's go over what we know so far about these women."

"Well, all women have been in their early thirties, dressed for nightlife but not trashyâ€"trendy. They were all assaulted between 12 and 1 am in an alley not far from the bar they left. Each of them survived a knife assault thanks to an unknown stranger who has left no clues and all the women said it happened too fast to identify any of his features." Jack seemed impressed with his recounting of events until Lena replied.

"Well that's a good start but let's dig a little deeper. They are all slender and fit. They haven't been drunk but have been tipsy after a few drinks. Each of them had stayed too late for the valet and had to walk to get their car. You're also forgetting that one victim, Valerie D'Amico thought she saw a long coat flapping in the wind when he ran away."

"Well that really narrows it down. Hell, I own a long coat, it could've been me!" Jack said trying to push Lena's buttons.

Though he tried to downplay it, he was impressed with her investigative skills and intuition. It didn't hurt she was easy on the eyes too. Blonde hair, a touch of make up and a slender solid build made her catch a lot of attention from her peers and superiors for that matter. She knew it and knew how to handle herself.

As Lena was about to respond, Maria the Captain's secretary, walked in and said, "The Captain would like to see the two of you immediately in his office."

They got up quickly and entered his office as he waved them in.

"Take a seat. Have you seen the headlines this morning?" Captain O'Malley inquired.

They both nodded somewhat sheepishly. "You guys have been on these vigilante cases since the start and you seem to know no more than you did the day you started. Now I've got five dead bodies and the city making a hero out of this savior! And I have a press conference in a half hour. What the hell do you expect me to say? I want the two of you outside with me for the conference and then afterwards we are going to meet at 1 pm and you're going to tell me what your plans are for solving this. That's it. Dismissed."

As Jack and Lena grabbed their coats to head outside, Lena leaned over and said, "Maybe I should start going undercover to some of the local bars where attacks have happened and see if I can get any bites. What do you think?" With that question lingering they walked outside and saw the media starting to gather.