Hi All!
I've been working hard on Justin. I need to start the brand new writing now, so I'm up to chapter 18 now. From last Monday, I'd say that's pretty good!  LOL.
I'm also trying to get ready to go to Disneyworld!!!  I'm SOO excited. Shawn, Jamie, Caleb and I will spend a whole week in FL in the magical land. I have lots going on between now and then, so I'm trying to fit in the packing stuff and shopping stuff around the working, writing, skiing, and odds and ends. I know, suffer. The truth is we all really need a vacation and with just the four of us, this is really going to be a blast.
My Dad is trying to pull me back into the youth center too.  Better now then before though. I was so messed up emotionally and physically, just stressed and figuring things out, but things have finally slowed down and I feel better. I have a schedule now that I am following which for my personality helps greatly for me to focus on life. I started karate three weeks ago and it has been so much fun. I've enjoyed the discipline, learning the moves, and the joy of doing something new and fun. I have made a goal for each month to accomplish. So, Feb is met. March’s goal is to go back to classes for my Masters.
Okay, folks, that's a wrap. I have to get back to writing while Justin is fresh in my mind or he causes all kinds of trouble!

Chapter 1

It was almost quitting time and Michelle’s body was well aware of that fact.  She was just about finished her second all night and still fruitless stakeout of the week.  The Tory gang, a clique from the larger Bloods gang, was on the move, but so far they were being careful not to get caught on the attack.  It was a record Michelle desperately wanted to change.  Suddenly, they were being bold and greatly expanding their territory without explanation and the murder rate was skyrocketing.  A fact Michelle hated.

It made her furious with pain from the past that these punks roamed however and wherever they wanted, not caring who they hurt.  Nothing was sacred to them, except sometimes each other.  She could feel her stomach clench and her heart tighten as the terror and gut wrenching pain from so long ago came back to haunt her once more.

“God!” She spat inside her own mind.  It was almost an accusation rather than the cry of help it should have been, but then her last true cry for help had been quite a while ago. She told herself she preferred it like that.

Michelle groaned out loud when the call came over her radio and interrupted her thoughts.  Her partner shook his head at her and turned up the call slightly when the call sign was given.  As she listened intently, she felt stomach clench.

“A gang murder in the outer suburbs,” her partner, Stan, summed up unnecessarily.  He grimaced. “A woman.”

“Why do they always have to get innocents involved?  They don’t have enough of their own to kill?”  She muttered angrily, as she straightened in her car and flipped on the lights and siren.

Her partner didn’t bother to answer, but grabbed the soda she had sandwiched between her one leg and the arm rest before she could spill any more.  “We going?” He asked instead.

“Might as well.  It’s not far from here and we’ll be called in anyway at some point.  Hopefully, they didn’t mess up our scene this time,” she answered, already pulling out from between the two buildings they had been using for cover.  “Besides, the Tories aren’t coming out to play in this part of town anyway.  Ug, I need a vacation!”

“Yeah, we’ve all heard that before,” Stan replied, just as tired as she was.

Within minutes, they had left the hub of the city and were racing down the wider streets of the suburban area surrounding Los Angeles, California.  The house in point was easy to spot with two police cars already at the scene, lights still flashing.  She pulled the car to a stop behind one.  The house was one of four at the end of a cul-de-sac. It would have been a nice neighborhood before this, now it would forever be scarred. For just a second, she rested her head against the back of her seat and let out a sign.  Stan turned off their radio and unbuckled.

“You okay?”  He asked quietly.

“Sure.  Let’s get this over with.”

Her hand was on the door handle when a car careened to a screeching stop behind them.  A dark figure, who barely had time to turn off the engine, jumped out of the drivers seat and raced up the front steps, taking all three at once.

“Who was that?”  Stan wondered out loud.

“No clue, friend of the family’s?  Got here pretty fast,” Michelle answered.  She hadn’t even had a chance to get a good look at the guy.  Whoever he was, he was in a major hurry to see what had happened in the house.  “Let’s go.” Michelle led the way, following the fast visitor.

Inside was a mess.  Random chairs had been overturned, lamps pushed off of tables, pillows knifed and thrown, pictures torn off of walls, and it was only the living room.  Michelle frowned.  Something about the scene felt wrong for a gang related crime. The living room opened into a dining room on the left and behind that a kitchen.  So far, only the living room and received the torture treatment. An officer met them at the bottom of the steps.

“Officer Thomas.  You’re the gang task force?”

Michelle nodded.  “Officers Delgado and Morgan.  Where is the body?”

“Upstairs.  She was shot in her room sometime during the night.  We’re waiting the coroner.  There are four kids living in the house.  My partner has them in the back room, looks like it’s their playroom.  They’re pretty upset.”

“Was the playroom trashed?”  Stan questioned.

Thomas shook his head no.  “Only the living room got that treatment.  Her bedroom isn’t even that bad.  Looks like they took something off her desk, probably a laptop.”

“What about the guy that ran in?”

“He’s the oldest son.  He’s up there now.”

“By himself?”  Michelle asked, incredulously.  Quickly, she was past the officer and up the stairs, not giving him time to explain.  That was what she kept Stan around for anyway.

Upstairs was sectioned into what looked to be four bedrooms and a bathroom.  It was a modest home, perhaps a little on the upscale side for the outskirts, but by California standers, defiantly modest.  The door to the room on her left was open and she walked towards it.

Inside, the man who could run like lightening was frozen solid. The mother’s body lay on the bed. A gun shot to the chest had killed her, almost point blank.  It looked as if she had been sleeping when she was hit, but that knowledge would provide precious little comfort to the family.  Years of training, kept whatever emotions she might have had at bay.  They would wait till later, if ever.

Since the man wasn’t moving anytime soon, Michelle took a moment to observe the rest of the room.  It held a dresser, desk, wardrobe, closet, flat screen television, knickknacks, pictures of the kids, and a door to a private bathroom.  The room had been thrashed, but just enough to make it look like a fast burglary.  One wall had been stripped of some of its pictures, however, and in their place now resided a red spray painted ‘TR’ with a crown on top.  Michelle frowned, disturbed.

It was the sign of the Tories, but this was the Crips territory.  A smaller crew the Panther Party operated in this particular area, if she had read the streets names right as she had come into the area.  The sign was hastily done too.  She frowned, her eyes tracing the end of the crown.  It looked like whoever had been painting it had been jerked away, yet the number 187 stood out clearly.

“What does it mean?”

“Excuse me?”

“187,” the man asked the question, but his eyes never left the body.

“It’s the police code for homicide.”

He nodded, before turning and moving quickly out the door.  He was a strange man, Michelle decided as she followed, just to see where he’d go next. He passed by Thomas and Stan without a word and headed to the back of the house.

“We need pictures,” Michelle called to her partner as she followed. “And find out what’s taking forensics all night!”

He moved into the back play room and immediately shouts of “David” filled the room.  Michelle arrived in time to see the children launch themselves into his arms.  It was amazing he was able to remain standing under the pressure.

He knelt and gathered them in his arms, whispering over and over, “I’m here, I’m here.”

The pain that rose to her throat at the site of the tearful children holding on to their older brother for dear life was a surprise.  She couldn’t even remember the last time a dead body affected her.  The one upstairs certainty hadn’t, yet something as innocent as this did.  Perhaps there was emotion left in her tired body after all.  Either that or it was God’s cruel trick to reminder her she was human.

“Who found the body?”  Michelle turned from the scene before it had a chance to affect her anymore.

“The oldest boy, Chris, did.  He woke up thinking he heard something downstairs and went to ask his mom about it.” Thomas’ partner shook his head.  “Instead, he walked in to find her dead body.”

“The other kids?”

“All siblings.  The two middle girls are twins, Tara and Tammy.  The littlest one is only three, Sam. Only the oldest has seen the body.  He wouldn’t let his siblings in.  He called nine one one and then his brother.”

Michelle nodded.  “I’m going to need to talk to the boy.”

“I figured as much.  I have his statement I’ll give you.  When we got here, he already had the kids in this room.”

“Any idea why the Tories sign is up there?”

“Isn’t that what you’re here for?  We were just going to call homicide, but when we saw that, we figured it had better be you guys.”

“Thanks.”

“If this was a gang hit in a private home, they are getting bolder.”

Michelle shook her head.  “Something about that doesn’t sit right.  I need better answers.  Can you watch the kids while I talk to Chris? David will have to be present as the parent rep, I guess.”

Officer Manfred, according to his nameplate, nodded.

I turned to where David was trying to dislodge children from his neck and body.  He wasn’t managing very well.

“Chris?” 

The oldest boy, who couldn’t have been more than eleven, looked up at her.

“Hi.  I’m Officer Delgado.  I need to ask you some questions about tonight.  Do you think you can come and talk with me?” She asked, trying to keep her voice calm and soothing.  The boy’s blue eyes held the look of terror never forgotten.

He nodded, but didn’t step away from David.

“I’m coming too,” David declared straitening.

She nodded. “Yes, sir, I’ll need you to do that.  Why don’t we let the kids play and we can go into the kitchen?”

A round of reassuring hugs later, the three managed to make it into the eat-in-kitchen and take seats. Thankfully, there were no signs of struggle here and the calm would hopefully help the boy.

“Okay, Chris, I need you to tell me everything that happened tonight.  I really want you to try to remember ever detail.”

Chris swallowed and looked at his big brother, who gave him a warm smile.

“I was asleep.  We went to bed after pizza night.  I heard a loud crash and it woke me up.  I thought I heard voices.  They were using words Mom would have washed my mouth out with soap if I used.  I went to get my mom.”  His voice had been steady up to this point, but now it broke down as he struggled not to cry all over again.   David put his arm around him, but it did little good as tears began to stream down his young face.  David had a few of his own going on.

Michelle waited for a moment, and then spoke softly.  “I know this is really hard, Chris, but you’re doing a great job.  Can you keep going for me?”

“Are you going to catch them?”  The boy choked out instead.

It was an age old question. One Michelle frequently wished she could answer with a resounding yes. Instead, she gave the trained response.  “We are going to do our best.  But we need your help to do that.”

“I can’t…” the boy chocked on his tears and tried again, “She was dead.  In her bed.  She didn’t move.  There was lots and lots of blood.  She was dead. I called nine one one and told them.  And I called David.”

“What happened next, Chris?  What about the guys downstairs?  Did you see any of them?”

Chris shook his head no.  “They didn’t have lights on.  And I didn’t hear them any more.”

“What about your siblings?”

“I went to the twins’ room.  I thought they might be dead too.  But I woke up Tara.  We got Tammy and Sam and went downstairs.  We went in the play room.”

“Did you hear anything outside?”

He shook his head no.

“Did you see the living room?”

“When I got the cops at the door.  It’s a mess.  They did it, didn’t they?”

“I think so,” Michelle responded.

“Chris, have you seen anyone you didn’t know around your house lately?  Or as anyone followed you or your brother and sisters?”

“Do you think someone did this on purpose?”  David broke in, anger evident in his voice.

“I’m not sure, sir, but I don’t want to leave anything out either.”

Chris watched us then answered my original question.  “No.  But Tara or Tammy might have!”

“Okay, we’ll talk to them too.  Thank you, Chris.  I think you can go back to your brother and sisters now.  I’m going to talk to your brother.”

Chris looked at his brother and after getting a reassuring nod, slid from his seat and into the other room.  As soon as he was gone, David covered his face with his hands.

“I’m sorry about your loss,” Michelle spoke first, but the trained response would offer little comfort and she knew it. 

“I saw her and I still can’t make myself believe it,” David spoke in a low voice.

“You’re in shock.  Give yourself some time.”

“I don’t have it.  Those kids need me.”

“You are their older brother, correct?”

He nodded.

“How often do you see your family?”

“I eat here once a week at least.  The kids are at the youth center pretty often for different activates.”

“Youth center?”

“Where I work.”

“What did your mother do?”

“She was a personal assistant.”

“A secretary, then?”

He laughed bitterly.  “Don’t let any of them hear you say that.  They have a whole lot of pride.  But yeah, she was a secretary.”

“For who?”

“Um, she worked for Mr. Bradoch.  He’s the VP of Technoadvance Industry.  It’s a computer software company.”

Michelle did some mental calculations. The place was familiar.  Suddenly, she had it.  “That’s on ____ street, isn’t it?”

“That’s right.”

____ street was in Tory territory.  Harassment and murder in that area was common right now, but that didn’t explain why the gang would go after a personal secretary at her own home.

“Did she ever mention having contact with gang members in the area?”

His head came up instantly.  “Gang members? The symbol on the wall, is that from a local gang? I didn’t recognize it.”

“I’m just trying to cover all possible leads, sir,” Michelle answered calmly.

But David would have none of it.  “Look, Officer, I have four scared kids in the next room and my mother is lying upstairs dead.  I want some answers.”

Michelle forced a calming smile.  Victims went through an unimaginable amount of pain and shock and she dealt with them at the worst possible time. If she could offer comfort she would, but any reassurance now would be false.  She had learned long ago to put her own emotions aside when she walked into the victims or her family’s house and yet she still had to be as understanding as possible.

“Sir, I know you want answers and I promise I will do my best to get them to you, but I won’t give you false guesses before I know the truth, no matter how much you might want them now.  The fact is, it is a gang symbol on the wall, but that could be a false lead.  It’s easiest to blame the gangs for any crime committed.  We are going to look at all angels and when I know the truth, so will you. Deal?”

The man in front of her looked humbled and worn down, the weight of the entire world had been placed on his shoulders and it was not an easy burden.  For a moment, Michelle felt that spark of emotion form earlier.  She pitied the family that had to go through this and for that second she wished it hadn’t been his.

It shouldn’t have been.

The thought struck her.  Something was wrong with this gang crime and wrong in her town.  She intended to discover what that was and somehow this man’s family might hold the key.

“Deal,” he finally sighed.  “I’ll help any way I can, but I want to know everything.”

Instead of answering, Michelle asked her original question again. “Did she have contact with any gangs?”

“Not that I know of. I’d deal with them more at the center. They come in sometimes trying to recruit or sell drugs.  They’ve learned it’s a bad place to do business, but a few still try.”

“How have you handled them before?”

“The police mostly.  Sometimes a firm warning to get off the land works.”

“Have they ever threatened you or followed you anywhere?  Do they know your relation to your siblings?”

David paused for a moment then shook his head.  “I’ve never been followed.  I’ve been threatened a few times, but nothing serious, mostly just little boys trying to act big.  Nothing has ever gotten out of hand.  As for my siblings, I have no idea.  It couldn’t be hard to get that information though.”

Stan walked into the kitchen and glanced at them.  “Forensics is here.  Coroner will have a report by morning.  Forensics will take longer. We think there is a laptop missing.”

“She had one.  It was brand new.  An HP. She loved that thing, kept everything on it.”

“Such as?” Michelle asked.

“Um, email, any files she had, names, addresses, her calendar, all her work stuff, and she had a few projects on it, I think.”

Michelle nodded. “We’ll have to see if we can find it. It might have some answers. David, back to the gangs at the center, what ones have been around?”

His eyes went to the back of his head as he thought.  “Trays, Panther Cues… Sweet Sixteen.”

“All cliques of Crips,” Stan said.

Michelle nodded.  Crips wouldn’t give the Bloods the reward for a kill, but why would Bloods risk such an odd killing in Crips territory?

“We live in the suburbs.  Sure, we have gangs, but the violence is mostly in LA.  Why did this happen?”  David’s voice broke as the pain cracked through.

Michelle had to look away from the depth of pain in his blue eyes.  “I don’t know yet, sir. But we are going to do our best to find out and stop this.”

“What am I suppose to tell the kids?” David asked.

Michelle sighed, remembering back to days past.  “She’s in a better place, Honey.  She isn’t scared or in pain anymore.”  She blinked the voice and the memory away.  The words hadn’t helped then. “Give them a place to sleep safe tonight and remind them you’re here and love them.”

David nodded. Not only had this man lost his own mother, but now he had the total care of five very scared and confused children on his hands.  No guy was up for this.  He was in over his head.

“May I call you David?” Michelle asked.

David nodded again and Michelle caught her partner’s strange look.

“David, do you belong to a church?”

“Yes.  Faith Followers of Christ.” He almost looked relieved at a question that held an easy answer.

“Good.  Is your pastor married?”

“Claudia.”

“This is what I want you to do, David, call you pastor and his wife.  Tell them what happened and ask for their help.”

“Yeah…Yeah, Claudia would be perfect.” A light came over David’s face as if he had been handed the only answer he needed for the moment.  “I’ll do that right now.”

Quickly, he got up and left the room.  Stan turned to his partner.

“The pastor’s wife?  What would you know about that?”  His voice had a tease, but also curiosity to it.

“Long time ago,” Michelle answered tiredly.

Stan shook his head.  “Come on.  We can’t do anything more tonight.  We’ll get answers in the morning, but if we don’t get some sleep we won’t recognize any of them.”

“Sleep?  You know, I’ve heard about that.  I think it was about the same time I heard what a vacation was,” Michelle mocked.

“Ha ha. Let’s move.”

“Yeah,” Michelle mumbled, as she picked up her notebook and followed her partner out the door. They had just excited the house when a car pulled up out front and a couple got out.  The woman shot up towards them.

“They got here fast,” Stan exclaimed.

Michelle shrugged.  “They’re needed.”

“I’m Claudia.” The woman held out her hand.

Stan shook it.  “It’s good to see you, ma’am.”

“David and the kids?”

“Inside and waiting for you, ma’am,” Stan replied, re-opening the door he had just closed.

The woman was inside without anther word. Stan had just enough time to look at Michelle with a surprised face when the pastor joined them.

“Hello, Officers. I’m Pastor Mitchell.”

“Hello.  I’m Officer Delgado and this is my partner Officer Morgan.  We are the lead detectives on this case.”

He shook hands with both of them.  “Then I suspect we will be seeing a lot more of you,”

“Yes, sir.”

“This is such a hard thing to believe. Maria was well loved in the community.  She was a mother to everyone.”

“Did you know her well, sir?”  Stan questioned.

“She was a member of our church family. We are all very close.  I have lost a sister tonight and those children their mother.”

“They will need all the comfort you can bring, Pastor,” Michelle spoke.

Not I, child.  God is the only one who can comfort now, but I am hopeful He will use me as well.”

Michelle didn’t respond, but motioned to the door. The pastor gave her an understanding smile and walked inside.  Stan turned to her.

“What was that?”

“Nothing.  Let’s go. I’m tired and tomorrow is going to be no better.”

“You optimism is killing me.” Stan remarked pleasantly.

“Ha ha,” was Michelle’s reply.