Chapter 4



Darlene Mansfield lived in a cramped, rusted old trailer just outside of Henderson, Nevada. No stranger to social services was Darlene; she’d had her oldest two children taken three years earlier and her youngest three, ages three, five, and eight, were in custody of a relative. Apparently, that was only on paper though, as the youngest recently died from a head trauma while in mom’s care.

According to court transcripts, Darlene had no idea what happened to the young boy, as she was napping during the alleged accident. Jack read through the testimonies and evidence once more, most of it boring and useless. It all boiled down to one important thing to him; she skated.

This poor excuse for a human being managed to get off with probation, rehab, and her kids removed. Again. An aunt and uncle in another state were awarded custody, but Darlene had supervised visitation even though her eight-year-old son testified against her saying, “My mommy drinks and makes us do bad things. Sometimes I get scared that she’s really gonna kill us if we play too loud.”

Jack’s stomach twisted as he thought about the children’s lives thus far. They had been given to men for sex routinely, were subjected to…well god alone knew what sort of degradation and depravations for their mother’s addictions.

What worried Jack was that Darlene had twice gone through rehab and AA and gotten her kids back…after allegedly rehabilitating herself. This time a child had died; he couldn’t let another.

Jack dug through his small overnight bag, finding a notepad with a number on it and dialed as he chugged the antacid liquid from the bottle he seemed to live on these days. A husky voice answered after several rings. “Harley’s Pig Farm.”

 

 

 

 

Pam sat on her deck listening to the crickets sing and thinking about her family and her job. She’d missed Allison’s recital and Tommy’s little league game again. Once again, Rick was pissed at her. She knew the job was important, but sometimes she missed the relatively peaceful days when she was only an assistant prosecutor. All day, every day, she tried to lock the scumbags up …but too many got away. She understood most of the reasons, but it still twisted her stomach to watch pedophiles walk away with little more than a slap on the wrist.

 

Her cell phone trilled and broke the quiet of the night. An involuntary shiver ran up her spine when she saw the caller’s name.

“Hey Jack.”

“Pam, listen, I need to go out of town for a few days next week. I’ll be out of touch, and I need you to handle things for me.”

“What’s up?”

“I just have some personal things to take care of, but I won’t be able to handle the Johnson project. Listen, come by Pete’s Place tomorrow around five and I’ll give you the keys to my apartment and office. In the top left drawer in my office is all I have on it.”

“Alright, I’ll take care of everything…just do what you have to do and get your ass back here.”

“I will. Pam…I have the utmost faith in you to take care of things while I’m gone. I wouldn’t ask you if I didn’t know you could do it.”

Pam bit her tongue to hold back the words that almost tumbled off, sighed and said, “Okay, but still…be careful.

 

The next evening, Jack finished ordering a steak, fries and a beer for himself and a dinner salad, vegetable soup, and a gin and tonic for Pam just as she walked in the door. Pam leaned down and kissed him lightly on the cheek before sitting down as the server reappeared. “Hey Tony, nice to see you still here; I thought you quit.”

“Nah, Old Pete’d be lost without me.” The skinny, fiftyish server replied.

“I don’t doubt that.” Pam said, winking at him. Tony had been at Pete’s almost as long as Pete and had become a favorite fixture the regular patrons loved. “I’ll have the vegetable soup…hmm dinner salad I think and a gin—”

“…and tonic,” Tony and Jack added simultaneously.

Laughing, Pam said, “I guess I’m predictable, huh?”

“No sweetie, Jack already ordered for you…exactly what you just asked for. Tony said, shaking his head as he walked away.

“Don’t look so surprised; I know you well.” Jack said, smirking.

“By the way, I heard that Darlene still hasn’t surfaced. It’s assumed that she took off for parts unknown instead of facing rehab and all that.”

“I wouldn’t doubt it a bit,” Jack replied. “A pig like that probably went to live with her own kind.”

“Nice touch. Creative.”

Jack leaned over the table and whispered, although there was little chance of being overheard anyway, as busy as Pete’s was that night. “It seems that one of our friends had a few pigs reaching the end of their lives.”

“I really hope they aren’t destined for the slaughterhouse…” Pam said, grimacing.

“No, in fact, these pigs will live out the rest of their natural lives quite comfortably. It may be months before they die, but when they do, they won’t become pork chops or hotdogs.”

“Well, as I said before…nice touch.”

“Actually, that wasn’t my idea, but it was decided that since a pig fed her children to pedophiles, and fed off them herself with the money…well what more fitting end?” Jack leaned back as he saw Tony approaching with their dinners.

Shaking her head, Pam was thankful not to be eating pork tonight.

 

 

Pam slipped through the dark alley, just another shadow among hundreds. Her prey would come soon, she knew. As all night feeders do, he’ll return to his den before the civilized world awakens. Bill Johnson liked his prey young and small. This hunter preyed on the weakest yet thought himself above the laws of nature and man, considered himself above reproach. After all, cops protect the innocent, right?

Johnson looked about him as he entered the alley where he’d left his car. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, he unlocked the car and hopped in, relieved to be home free once again. Elated and glorying in the night’s triumph, he didn’t sense the motion behind him until the cloth pulled tight against his throat.


Pam watched from the shadows as the sanitation workers loaded the trash into the truck the next morning. They worked for The Group and would make sure the body wouldn’t surface anytime soon., if ever. The area gangs would soon take care of the car. Pam slipped out of the alley, just another shadow. Briefly, she wondered when the next call would come and where it would take her. In the end, it didn’t really matter, as they were all the same.

 

 

 

Read on for an alternate ending!