Stopping the senses

Detective John Sampson and his partner Vanessa “Nessie” Morgan were standing over a dead body.  At first appearances, it appeared to be a male but age was hard to determine as much of the man’s face was missing.  His ears, nose and eyes were either removed or cut at so violently there was little hope of getting a visual match and he was a denture wearer making dental that much more so.

 

They had searched the home for any sign of his identity with no hope it was as if he just appeared out of nowhere.  Any computer traces were hopeless; he appeared to have nothing on his home computer but pictures of beautiful women.  First signs were that he might have been a serial rapist but none of the women was local and as there was no way to trace his travel habits, they were unsure if he had been elsewhere. This is where the investigation had to start.

 

After contacting all the women they none were missing or dead all were living and having what most would call a successful life.  They had no idea why a man so far away had their pictures on his computer.  None was admitted users of pornographic sites, not that any of the pictures were of that nature.  Actually, the pictures seemed to focus a lot on the face and especially their hairstyles.

 

While this was a common denominator of sorts, they couldn’t figure out why the man had so many pictures.  The computer technicians had found a hidden file on the computer that if you weren’t looking hard enough you might never noticed it even existed.  Three days later, he figured out the password and had it open. 

 

Still it was encoded even further and until they discovered the key there were stuck even the DNA led them nowhere.  Just to a man with no history as if he never existed before ten years ago and he was listed in his forties.  Another odd guess figured out but it took another month for that to happen.  Meanwhile the detectives were trying to locate the man who was believed to have appeared out of nowhere.

 

They had contacted the US Marshal services that came up empty.  Then they went to the NDSA and CI in the hopes that maybe he was some kind of spook.  If he was, they weren’t admitting it to CYA or he didn’t leave them with a warm and fuzzy feeling that they were safe on their own turf anymore.  Someone might have been chasing after their undercovers and they weren’t inclined to help out of mere safety of others under the guise of National Security.

 

This sent the Detectives back to the drawing board with what they did know, he was this “person” and he didn’t have much of a history.  But, he did have lots of pictures of beautiful women of all shapes and sizes, hair colors, eye colors.  There appeared no discernible pattern in his collection but there must be some reason and hopefully when they get into that encoded file system they will have some clue what it was.

 

 

Then they caught a break someone called saying they heard a lot of a man screaming that night but thought it was just a neighbor watching horror movies, as he was known to do especially on Friday nights.  That was coincidentally the night this man was murdered for a lack of a better term.  The reasons were beyond comprehension to this point but they didn’t give up, not just yet.

 

Early in the morning on a Monday, they got the call that cracked it wide open as to what had happened in that house.  “Yeah, no one I know would be crazy to wake us up at 4 am.”

 

“Sorry Detective but I got into part of the files I thought you two would like to see it immediately.”

 

John rolled over and kissed Nessie on the shoulder while stroking her arm gently his fingertips just lightly passing over the skin causing goose bumps all over her body.  She giggled, slapped his hand and whispered softly, “stop that Johnny.”  She rolled over kissed him on the lips looking him directly in the eyes not as a sexual conquest but as a wife to be.  He’d seen that look before but he knew this time she was right but first she had to give up her job as his partner and take a desk assignment.  He wasn’t interested in losing her or the baby she was now carrying, his.

 

They got up took a shower and headed into work in separate cars, for now they had to keep up appearances, she wasn’t planning on resigning for another week then they would hopefully close this one last case first.  They walked in alone, and then went into the computer tech’s office sat down sipped their coffee’s and waited….

 

Jack turned handed each a copy of what he had so far as they read it they both dropped their coffee on the floor.  The shock of what they read was so haunting they couldn’t believe their eyes.

 

“I can’t take it anymore I have to make it stop.  I see them and I feel compelled to collect the pictures.  I watch them at the mall and I am aroused with no idea why.  I must make it stop I can only sense one way to stop the collecting and the feelings of arousal.  I must blind myself anyway; I can to make it stop. 

 

I will gouge them out if need be since when I look at women they look at me as if I am going to rape them.  I know that look in my eyes is giving me away and I try hard to stop but I can’t the compulsion is too strong.  I can see no other way out of this.  By going after my eyes I won’t be able to see that should make it stop, right?”

 

Below were diagrams crudely designed using the cheap software that came with the computer that they found in his house?  It was his idea to literally try gouging his eyes out with any object he could think of that would remove his eyes, one at a time.

The next file link opened a video file that was hard to watch when they finally got it opened.  It was the man with loud horror movie playing in the background as he attempted to violently remove his eyes, one at a time.  He would pull it out with whatever he could, and then cut the veins holding it in with a crude knife.  First one, then the other barely making any sounds it almost appeared that he was highly inebriated while doing this to himself.

 

They got another file open and this one was typed, apparently, he was a good typist because he was not showing signs of most users who without being able to look at what they write have major typos.  It was dated for approximately a week later.

 

“The eyes didn’t stop it I went out with the Seeing Eye dog I was provided by my local charity organization.  But I could still smell their hair, the floral scents, and the gentle hints of jasmine.  I can’t make it stop, the sense of arousal and rather than keep being driven to it, I need to stop it once and for all.

 

I will now remove my nose so that I might never smell this arousing scent again.  I can see no other recourse and I must be more careful the eye removal I lied to cover my choices to keep me out of the mental ward, they are looking for the person who assaulted me, who doesn’t even exist.”

 

No drawings, just a video link of his act of removal only this one must be how he got to his ears as it was the removal attempt of his ears.  His nose was still barely hanging on at this point with no clue what this man was thinking when all this was happening for he barely made a sound when doing this to himself.

 

John noted he must be a true believer in what he was doing or he might well have cried aloud for hours afterwards at the loss of his senses in such a violent means done to him.

 

A note was found about his ears, “I have been hearing it wisp by me I can’t smell it but I still hear it.  I still feel aroused and am afraid I will hurt someone soon if I don’t make it stop.  My father was a serial rapist; I cannot become this man, even if I have to commit suicide to make it stop.”

 

Then the video of his nose removal but there as a slight break at the end and then another video started, it was dark you couldn’t make him out just a backlight room with what appeared to be him facing forward speaking to the camera.

 

“This being my last will and testament I leave my entire estate to the Sheryl Woodward shelter for women.  I being James Thomas Woodward II understand that I am of sound mind and body and these are my wishes, please contact the law firm of Woodward, Stone and Sampson at 555-0909 asks for Jamie.”

 

 

John was stunned to learn of this information because his first marriage was torn apart by a rapist.  She was barely 21 when they were married and six months later she was raped and the only thing the rapist took was her hair, he shaved her head bald, Nessie took his hand, “it’s going to be alright John, can do it.”

 

The phone call was quick as all her clients had been transferred to another lawyer at the firm, she had taken her life five months ago when she found out her ex was dating his partner.  They sent over a file that belonged to the man in question, in it was the key code, a password and a file with title deed and a bank account number, which as it turned out had the man’s entire life savings $666,000.00 in it.

 

Along with all of this was a note:

 

“To whom it may concern:

 

I apologize for any decisions my father made that harmed anyone.  When he took my Mother’s life, I knew what I had to do to stop him and me, from harming anyone else ever again.

 

I am the one who shot, disposed of my father’s remains and I am the one who took care of myself to ensure that whatever aroused me would no longer make me long to fulfill my destiny.

 

I’m sorry.”

 

A week later Nessie took the desk job and John researched the history of both men.  He was surprised one important thing he never knew in his own world.   James Thomas Woodward II was adopted shortly after birth by Mr. and Mrs. James Thomas Woodward.  When he researched the open adoption, he discovered that the young man was actually his ex-wife’s child that was born from the rape; he never knew she was pregnant.