Megan, who had been assigned baggage watch duty caught the eyes of her sisters and pointed to the suitcases. Sophia nodded and pulled Rachel over with her to stand with the accumulation of bags. They knew of the three of them Megan was the boldest and would push her way into places the others wouldn’t think of entering.
Gabriella scanned the baggage claim area once more but Ben wasn’t there. She had his suitcase so he hadn’t been through the area yet. Megan walked up to her.
“Give me a few minutes,” she said and Gabriella nodded. Megan headed off towards the doors to the customs area. Gabriella watched her slip through the doors as a passenger exited. She wished her luck but then the young lady made her own luck.
She looked over at Catherine and saw she was biting her lip. They were both nervous but Tina was beginning to look frantic. “Tina, don’t worry. He’s probably just caught up in some technicality. Megan will find him.
Tina trembled but nodded as her eyes remained locked on the doors.
Megan had surprisingly already made progress. She was sitting on a bench next to a young woman with lovely tattoos. As she’d passed the hall to the security offices she’d overheard an angry voice screaming something about killing the big bastard who sucker punched him and how he’d be back to ‘cut the bitch’. That sounded like a promising lead so Megan walked into the hall as the police dragged the screaming and thrashing man away out another door. She sat down next to the crying woman who looked up hopefully at her. Megan saw she was handcuffed to the bench.
“Hi, my name is Megan.”
“Lucy.”
“Did a large man come to your rescue against the angry guy?” she asked with a smile.
Lucy looked at Megan with large teary eyes. “Yes! How did you know?”
“That was Ben. My mom’s boyfriend. He does stuff like that. Did you see which way he went?” she asked.
“After he knocked Cecil out the police came and grabbed him. He didn’t resist as they led him away. Is Ben simple minded?” Lucy asked.
“What? No! Why?” Megan snorted.
“He- he seemed kind of out of it when he grabbed Cecil after I was slapped. His face was blank and his eyes were a little scary when he held Cecil up on his tip toes by his ponytail. When Cecil tried to kick and hit him Ben punched him once in the face then dropped him in a pile on the floor. Then he looked at me with a friendly smile.”
Megan frowned with worry. She recalled her mom saying Ben had zoned out before when he beat up their new neighbor who had abuse his wife. She hoped he wasn’t relapsing. If the police had him she had to get Gabriella and her mom on damage control as soon as possible.
“Are you going to be OK?” Megan asked.
Lucy dropped her eyes down to her cuffed hands and worried a tissue into shreds. “I don’t know. Cecil has my passport. And my money. He’s going to lose his shit when he discovers I’m no longer carrying his drugs. He’s going to kill me. I just want to go home!” she blurted then began to cry.
“The police have your passport by now. Just tell them how Cecil held you captive to be his drug mule. From what I’ve read that’s more common than you think. That should get you free from him hopefully. Here’s some cash to get you to our hotel, the Imperial Suites. When we get Ben free we’ll meet you there and he’ll hook you up with a flight home.”
“Oh my god! Thank you!” Lucy gasped. She started crying again so Megan just patted her on the shoulder.
“You be careful and we’ll see you soon, ok?” she said and headed back out to the baggage area. She had information some nervous ladies needed to hear.
Chief Inspector Antoine Boucher stared through the glass at the large man handcuffed to the table and contemplated how good he was going to look in the news tonight having captured Kirion Rapava, terror of the night! The man’s crime spree had come to an end! Women could walk the dark streets at night no longer fearing the blade of this monster.
If it was him.
They hadn’t proven that yet. There were no clear photos of Rapava nor any accurate eye witness descriptions. All they had was that he was large, muscular, had dark hair, and most importantly he had a scar crossing his face.
Boucher had watched the footage of the big man lashing out at the punk who slapped his girlfriend. He was certainly capable of violence. Boucher was a bear of a man but the man in the room intimidated him.
What planted the seed of doubt in Antoine’s mind that the man they had in custody might not be Rapava was the gentle smile the brute had given the girl after he dropped the punk to the floor. Why had he protected the girl? That didn’t fit the profile they had, at all. Rapava had never shown the slightest bit of compassion to any of his victims. All of whom were female. Or looked like a female in the case of that one unfortunate cross dresser.
The door opened quickly and Detective Chanel Babineaux pushed her way in with a fierce expression on her face. She drew up short when she saw Boucher.
“Chief Inspector! Is it true? We got Kirion Rapava?” She swung her face to look through the glass at the man inside. “Is it him?”
“Detective Babineaux, when did you get here?” Antoine asked. He took in the wrinkled suit and the short black hair in desperate need of a wash or even a brush. The woman’s eyes were dark brown and bore right through your head when she focused on you. She had classic symmetrical facial features and a long limbed, slim build the ladies on the Parisian catwalks would kill for. Had she worn even the slightest amount of make-up or paid any attention to her looks she could have been breathtaking. But the Chief Inspector knew the detective despised all things ‘girly’. Still rebelling from her mother’s pressure to get her into fashion. He couldn’t fault her for wanting to apply her keen mind to the ‘more worthy’ pursuit of being a detective in the police force.
“Just minutes ago. I was following a tip that Rapava was coming in on a flight today. I got here and was informed that he was already in custody!”
“It might be him. He matches the limited description we have. Our people are going over the documents he had with him. The passport was brand new. Could be fake but it’s a really good forgery if it is. Our tech people are working on accessing the computer he had on him. He seemed to be travelling on his own.”
Babineaux stared at the man shackled to the table. “Who’s doing the interrogation?”
“Felix.”
“Ah. Good man.” she conceded. She would have loved to have been the one to crack Rapava. She had a personal connection to this case though she kept that fact to herself. Chanel had been on this case for years. She knew all the details of each attack carried out by that monster. You couldn’t bury yourself so deep in the details without it affecting you. Then he struck too close to home. Someone she’d known… intimately… had been killed and all signs pointed to Rapava.
She examined the man in the room and memorized his features. He was handsome if you ignored the thin white scar that ran from cheek to cheek crossing is nose. Big, dark, and brooding. She wasn’t sure how long he’d been in there.
“Have you seen the footage of him attacking the punk in the custom’s queue?” Boucher asked.
Chanel looked at her boss. “He attacked someone?” she said in shock.
The man nodded and passed her a tablet. The door opened and the Chief Inspector was called outside.
Chanel queued the clip and watched it. She stopped it the moment he dropped the limp man to the ground. She saw the cold expression on his face as he struck the man. Quick as a whip and ruthless. It had to be Rapava. She put the tablet down and turned to the window again.
She saw the door open in the room and the man looked at the three officers who entered. He was staring at them as they spoke but he shook his head. She turned on the speaker to hear what they were saying.
“-English. Sorry, I don’t speak French,” he said.
The officers closed the door and took positions. One moved forward and removed one of the cuffs and stood back.
“You will remove your clothes for a body search.” the officer who released him said. The man scowled at him but looked at the others who had their hands on their weapons. He unbuttoned his shirt.
Chanel jumped when the door to the observation room opened and two female officers barged in. They stopped and stared at Babineaux but she just nodded. Rapava deserved the indignity so she was fine with him having an audience. She moved to the left side of the window furthest from the door which gave her a better view anyway.
Three more female officers and two male officers came into the room to watch the unveiling. Their timing was perfect as the man was just taking off his shirt at that moment. He pulled it open and back over his shoulders. He was very muscular and several sighs and coos were heard from the watchers but that stopped when they noticed the scars. The room went quiet.
Terrible violence had been inflicted upon this man. It was difficult to tell the age of some of the scars. Some looked recent. Some were large and others small so there may have been multiple attackers of different strengths. Regardless they were chilling to see. Perhaps most disturbing were the three old bullet hole scars on his lower torso.
“The pants. Remove them.” the officer said, his voice betraying his unease.
The man scowled again but undid his belt, button and zipper. He kicked off his shoes, pushed his pants down and stepped free of them. The watchers gasped and giggled as they saw the thick cock hanging down between his legs. He stood there with his hands at his side waiting while the officer inspected his clothing.
“Gil, would you like to spend some time with him in his cell?” Chanel overheard a teasing voice say.
“Like you wouldn’t.” was Gil’s reply.
“They found his concealed weapon.” giggled one of the ladies.
“Maybe you’d like to help conceal it once more?” chuckled another.
“You do realize this man is responsible for the brutal torture and murder of over a dozen women?” Babineaux said critically.
One of the women looked at her in surprise. “It’s him then? Kirion Rapava? It’s been proven?”
Chanel looked away from the officers to stare back at the naked man behind the glass who was bending over the table. “Not yet. But we’re getting closer.”
The room winced as they watched the man’s reaction to the cavity check. “You can put your clothes back on.” the officer who did the inspection said when he was finished.