The Case of the Psychotic Fans

By Allegra

Monday
Monday morning’s edition of the Times had a lengthy article on places that were used for filming in the Los Angeles area. One of the shows featured was "The Searcher". The author had explained that although Searcher had been off the air for five years it still maintained a following of loyal fans. Recently, filming had begun on a reunion movie that the star/producer hoped would serve to heighten the hysteria. Using the convient map the paper had published Sue and Ann planned to head down to the warehouse district of L.A. looking for the stars.
Tara had been quiet long enough. She loved the show just as much as any of the other fans that flooded the Internet message boards, but this was just going too far and Tara told them so. Sue and Ann had planned the whole day around going to this warehouse. They had their hair done at noon, bought new outfits and got manicures at three. Then they debated for an hour and a half over weither or not to bring cameras and tape recorders. Tara had told them the whole time that she was not going to leave the car. As Sue pulled up to the curb to park Tara proceeded to make it quite clear that she though this was a really hair brained idea. There was no way that she would be making a fool of herself. To Tara’s surprise both girls jumped out of the car and began walking toward the building. Tara slumped down in the front seat of the car and pulled a book out of her backpack.
The clock on the dash of the car indicted that Sue and Ann had now been gone for two hours. Tara wasn’t sure if she should try to find them or close her eyes and doze off for a while, all that reading had made her tired. She rolled down her window hoping the air would keep her awake but in the end she fell asleep.
When Sue and Ann finally arrived back at the car loaded down with autographed pictures it appeared as though Tara got tired of waiting. The passenger door was open and from the front the vehicle looked empty. As Ann went around to get in she let out a blood-curdling scream.
Tara’s naked body lay sprawled on the front seat. Her head was hanging slightly off the edge and her mouth was open as if she was gasping for air. Her brown eyes were fixated on whatever it was she had seen before she died.

**********

Wednesday
"Hunter, McCall, in my office," bellowed Captain Devane before slamming his door. Hunter looked at McCall suspiciously and gave it one last try, "Come on Sgt. what was so funny?" Upon entering the precinct this morning Hunter found McCall on the phone in a fit of laughter. Since she hung up over an hour ago the smile had not left her face. McCall ignored the question and got up from her desk. Hunter followed. As they reached Devane’s office McCall turned around, "Hunter you are making me NUTS, just give up ok?" She entered the office and promptly shut the door behind her leaving Hunter on the other side. Devane couldn’t help but chuckle.
Once both detectives were seated Devane began to brief them. "Early this morning a young girl was found in an alley behind the Hollywood Book and Poster Co. on Hollywood Blvd. She had been bound, strangled and stripped of her clothing. Some sort of message was written on her in red marker."
"Same as three days ago?" asked Hunter. Devane confirmed by nodding.
The body of Tara Jack had been found on Monday in a parked car outside of a warehouse in downtown L.A. Her body was stripped of clothing and the message "Thou shall not complain" was written on her abdomen in red indelible marker. She had been strangled.

In the chill of the air conditioning Hunter and McCall stood listening to Barney as he uncovered the second body to turn up with a message in red ink. The girl was beautiful; long dark hair, small build, probably about 19 or 20 years old. The purple and bluish hues around her neck indicated strangulation. Red marker was used to inscribe, "Thou shall not bid against" on her abdomen.
"Her name is Ann Sing," Barney said, and then explained that he ran the prints as soon as she came in. "She must have been visiting, her current address is New York."
McCall looked at Hunter, "Where was the first girl from?"
"Minneapolis," answered Hunter. "Wait a minute..." Hunter leaned over the body to get a better look at the young girls face. "McCall! This is the girl that we interviewed."
"What?" asked a confused McCall.
"When we interviewed witnesses on Monday, after we found the fist body, we talked with two girls remember?" McCall gave a nod. "This is the one who found Tara."
Now it was McCall’s turn to lean in for a better look. "I think we’d better go talk to that other witness."

McCall was watching palm trees fly by at an astonishing speed through the passenger window of Hunter’s car. "Are you thinking the same thing I’m thinking?" inquired Hunter.
McCall turned to face him, "huh?"
"Well, it seems now that Ann is dead our only suspect is Sue."
"What did their statement say they were doing by that warehouse?" asked McCall.
"They were getting autographs, there was a TV show being filmed there." Answered Hunter.
"Right," said McCall thoughtfully. "And what was the name of the show?"
"McCall, did you not read the report? Too busy talking on the phone?" Hunter couldn’t resist. He had bugged and bugged McCall to explain her phone call this morning that practically had her rolling on the floor with laughter. Each time she had brushed him off. Hunter thought it might be a new guy and wanted to check him out.
"Just tell me the name of the show Hunter." He raised his right eyebrow in a look that asked what would I get in return. McCall studied him for a moment and sighed, "I’ll explain the phone call. You’re going to be disappointed though, my life really isn’t that exciting."
"Your life is very exciting. I make your life exciting." Hunter stated in a serious tone.
"Right, I forgot," laughed McCall.
"The phone call," Hunter said. "Who were you talking to?"
"Jenna."
"The same Jenna that use to call MY desk looking for you?"
"Yeah, well, she finally told me why she does that."
"Really," Hunter said intrigued.
"Hunter, do you realize you’re forcing me to break the number one rule in friendship, confidentiality. I was told that under no circumstances were you to know about this." Hunter looked over at McCall and smiled. That was McCall’s indication that he would afford her no sympathy and she should just continue. "She has the largest crush on you," McCall said and began to laugh.
"Why is that so funny," Hunter asked insulted. "Many girls get crushes on me."
"Because the ONLY reason SHE does is because she’s in love with the male character on The Searcher and apparently YOU look just like him," answered McCall now completely overtaken with laughter. "She spent an hour explaining the similarities and even played a tape of and old episode for me over the phone. Hunter, you sound like him too! What’s funnier," McCall continued. "Is she says I could double for the female lead!" She was laughing so hard that she was beginning to wish she hadn’t had that second cup of coffee this morning. She looked over at Hunter and couldn’t help noticing that he didn’t seem to find any of this funny. "Lighten up Hunter, from what I understand this guy on The Searcher is a REAL HUNK though from what I heard he can also be a jerk."
"McCall, that was the show they were filming downtown"

Hunter’s car came to a stop outside a single story home, both Hunter and McCall walked up to the porch. McCall rang the bell. A petite brunet who was dressed as though she were going to a nightclub opened the door. Her attention was on the woman in the living room and as she turned to face the two detectives she said with surprise, "Dee Dee?" To which McCall responded with and equal if not greater amount of surprise, "Jenna?"

Jenna and McCall sat in the sun drenched kitchen of Sue Easter’s house. Jenna explained with great enthusiasm that she had met Sue on "The Searcher" message board. They discovered that they lived in the same city and made the decision to meet in person about five months ago. Since then they had become close friends. "Sue called me as soon as she realized Ann hadn’t come home."
McCall couldn’t believe what she was being told. This did not sound like Jenna at all. She had known her for a long time and thought she was the last person on earth that would meet people on the Internet. In fact, many times Dee Dee and Jenna had laughed over how pathetic people were that could only make friends on the Internet. However, even with this uncharacteristic behavior there was no doubt in McCall’s mind that Jenna was not involved in the murders. Still having to do her job McCall said, "I have to ask where you were last night."
Jenna understood that the question was not meant to doubt her but simply procedure and she answered, "I was at work until 10. I was finishing a report that my boss considered necessary to have first thing in the morning." Then she added, "I’m really going to have to stop calling you from work it’s cutting into the ‘work’ portion of the day."
McCall gave her a brief smile, "You also know I’m going to have to check that out."
Once again understanding Jenna offered, "There was at least 3 other people in the office helping with the report, I could give you their names if you’d like."
"That would be great, thanks," said McCall squeezing Jenna’s arm with affection.

In the living room Hunter was sitting with Sue. She was looking at the floor obviously distressed. Her voice was so quite when she answered Hunter’s questions he’d had to ask her to repeat herself a few times.
"Where were you last night?"
"I was here, watching TV with Jenna," answered Sue.
"And when did you notice that Ann hadn’t come home?"
"This morning."
"What was Ann doing on Hollywood Blvd.?" Asked Hunter
"I don’t know, I guess she was just sightseeing. Look, Ann just wanted to see the Hollywood walk of Fame. I was too tired to go with her. I didn’t wait up because she told me she was going to check out a few clubs as well."
"On her own?" questioned Hunter.
"Yeah, I asked her the same thing and she told me she does...did it all the time at home." Sue began to cry and brought her hands to her face trying to hide it from the detective.
"I just have one more question Ms. Easter," said Hunter. "In your statement you said you knew Tara and Ann through a traveling club, is that right?"
"Yes, I met them on a cruise and we stayed in touch. Every year we try to get together in a different place."
Hunter thought this was strange but was satisfied for the moment without a further explanation. "You’ll be here tomorrow if I have more questions?"
"For most of the day, yes. But I have to be at the airport at 2 to pick up friends." Sue saw Hunter’s perplexed look and added, "more people I met on the cruise."

The day had pretty much ended by the time Hunter and McCall arrived at her house. Neither had eaten since breakfast so upon leaving Sue Easter’s they decided to order a pizza and go over the details of the case.

McCall had gone upstairs to change into jeans while Hunter had taken his jacket and tie off and made himself comfortable on the couch. Twenty minutes later the pizza arrived. As they began to devour the food McCall said, "Can you imagine meeting people the way they did? God, I don’t think I’d ever have the nerve to do that."
Seeing an opportunity to tease Hunter responded with a mouth full of pizza, "McCall, that is exactly your problem, you’re not willing to go out there and try new things to meet new people."
Insulted she shot back, "I go out all the time! I come home from work and nine times out of ten I’m back out the door after I change." McCall got up to get them drinks but kept talking. "I’ve taken an art class, aerobics, yoga and I was even on a bowling league once."
"Those are all safe things, you need to do something adventurous like take a cruise."
"Adventurous?! Hunter, I’ve done plenty of adventurous things, I’m a cop. Every time I go undercover it’s an adventure. Compared to that taking a cruise would be like...well, adventurous wouldn’t be the word I’d use to describe it."
"Well, I think your friend Jenna is a perfect example that a cruise could be adventurous. Look at all the people she met on the cruise she took."
"Jenna did not take a cruise Hunter."
"Yes she did, the one where she met Sue, Tara, Ann and the others that are arriving tomorrow. I think it’s a really great little group..."
Hunter was interrupted, "What are you talking about a cruise? They met over the Internet. Besides, there is no way Jenna could take time off to go on a cruise. Her boss is a real slave driver, last night she was at work till 10 o’clock!"
Hunter stopped eating and put his piece of pizza down. "Jenna told you they met over the Internet?"
McCall nodded, "it’s just so unlike her..."
"Wait a minute," Hunter said stopping her from adding anything further. "Sue told me they met on a cruise. And what did you say about Jenna working till 10?"
McCall’s look turned serious, she realized her partner was on to something, "she said he had this report to finish."
"Sue said Jenna was at her house last night. Someone’s lying here McCall, we need to figure out who."

**********

Thursday
Flynn was coming from Missouri and had a connecting flight in Dallas and Alyssa, who is from Texas, arranged to meet her at the Dallas airport. Alyssa even managed to get a seat on the same flight to L.A.. After meeting and conveying to Flynn how apprehensive of flying she was Flynn took Alyssa to the airport bar. They had a couple hours before their flight so both girls ordered drinks and sat down. It wasn’t too long before they were feeling no pain and engaged in conversation with anyone who would listen. A few more drinks later and they heard the announcement telling them their flight was boarding. Alyssa, feeling confident she could conquer her fear, was the first one off the barstool.
Unfortunately, after boarding they realized their seats were not together. Flynn asked the man in the seat next to Alyssa if he would mind switching with her. His reply was no. Just as he was putting his briefcase under the seat Alyssa reached for the barf bag and lost all her liquid courage. The man immediately grabbed Flynn and expressed his deepest gratitude for the chance to change seats. Both girls were still laughing when the plane landed in L.A.
The Los Angeles international airport was a mass of people. Some were frantically fighting their way through the crowd, probably trying to catch a connecting flight. Some were slowly making their way to the taxi bay, happy to finally be at their destination. Sue and Jenna were among the people in the crowd. They headed to the arrival gates armed with a banner that read: Alyssa and Flynn we’re "SEARCHING" for you. Having never met either girl they needed a way for them recognize each other. They had thought all night about the right way to somehow incorporate The Searcher in the banner. This was the best they could come up with.
As the first people came through the arrival gate Sue and Jenna each took hold of one end of the banner and held it up over their heads. Through the crowd of people two seemed to be walking towards them. Sue yelled, "Alyssa? Flynn?" The girls’ faces light up and they began to run. The banner crumpled on the floor in a confusion of luggage and purses as Alyssa and Flynn were engulfed in hugs. Both girls were still considerably inebriated so when Alyssa saw Sgt. Hunter and Sgt. McCall approaching she had to blink and look again to make sure she saw what she saw. "OMIGOD! It’s FRED WASHER from THE SEARCHER," she yelled. The three others spun around to look. "And STEPHANIE TAMER," added Flynn. Before Sue or Jenna could stop them Alyssa and Flynn had run up to the detectives. Alyssa threw herself at Hunter kissing him full on the lips. McCall backed away from Hunter and into Flynn. "God you’re even better looking in person." McCall could smell the alcohol. Rather than argue with the girl she simply said thank you and went over to give Hunter a hand. Alyssa was considerably taller than McCall and it took all her strength to pull Alyssa off him. Originally Hunter and McCall had come to take Sue and Jenna downtown for questioning. But, in lue of the events that just took place they decided to take everyone.
Sue and Jenna were put in interrogation room C, Alyssa and Flynn were put in a holding cell. Hunter and McCall stood on the opposite side of the interrogation room not sure how to approach the task of questioning the girls. McCall wanted Hunter to go gentle because Jenna was a friend. Hunter reminded her that friend or not she was now a suspect in the murder investigation. McCall glanced at Jenna, "I’m going to go down and talk with the other two, I’ll catch up with you later."
As McCall walked out Hunter crossed the room and slapped a file down on the table causing Sue to jump noticeably. "One of you lied to me and I want to know which one," said Hunter. Jenna gave Sue a look of confusion while Sue gave Hunter a look of guilt. Looking at Jenna Hunter clarified, "You told Sgt. McCall that you were at work until ten on Tuesday night, the night Ann was murdered. Sue told me that you were at her house watching TV. Which is it?"
"I was at work, I gave Dee Dee a list of people who were there with me. You can check it out." Answered Jenna.
"So, where were you Tuesday night?" Hunter asked Sue.
"I was watching TV like I said before but I was alone."
"Why didn’t you tell me that before?"
"Because I’ve watched enough detective shows to know how this works. I don’t have anyone to confirm what I was doing, which means I could have been out murdering Ann. I just didn’t want to be a suspect," answered Sue honestly.
"Well you are a suspect. And you are the number one suspect now, how do I know you aren’t still lying to me? And what about where you met, was it a cruise or the Internet?"
"I can explain that," said Sue. "We met over the Internet but I don’t like telling people that because then they get this preconceived idea that I’m a wacko."
Hunter open the door of the interrogation room and called for Officer Smitty to book Sue and Jenna on suspicion of murder. "You can’t do that I have an alibi," Jenna yelled.
"I can and I did, at least until it checks out."

Downstairs in a holding cell Alyssa and Flynn had sobered. Alyssa was feeling mighty embarrassed over the misunderstanding in the airport. Flynn on the other hand thought it was hysterical. Their differing of opinion escalated into a conflict. The man in the next cell peered through the bars. "What are you two doing over there, I’m trying to catch a few z’s." Flynn told the man the whole story including their infatuation with The Searcher. To which the man responded, "My name is Sporty James and I’m in the information business. I’m willing to sell you some information on Mr. Ted Washer in exchange for not money but peace and quiet." Alyssa and Flynn moved closer to the bars separating the cells, they could not believe their luck. Sporty told them there was suppose to be a party tonight after shooting of The Searcher rapped for the evening and that they usually were not private parties. Ted Washer liked young girls and any hanging around the set were usually invited. These parties almost always took place at his house. The girls kept their promise and were quite until McCall came to speak with them at which point they were very cooperative.

The phrases written in red on the dead girls still eluded McCall. So, after releasing Alyssa and Flynn and driving them to Sue’s she asked them about it. "`Thou shall not complain’ was written on Tara and `Thou shall not bid against’ was written on Ann."
"I know what the second one means," said Flynn. "A few months ago we made a pact on the message board. See, there is this online auction called e-cove and we all agreed not to bid against each other. One girl, Willameana, decided she wasn’t going to follow the rule anymore and bid against Ann. When Ann questioned her and got no response she in turn bid against Willameana."
"Who won the auction?" inquired McCall.
"Ann did. Willameana sent a few people hate e-mail and even threatened everyone on the board. It stopped after awhile," answered Alyssa
McCall thought for a moment, "Is there any way I could look at that e-mail?"
"Yeah, it should be on Sue’s computer, she always saves everything," said Flynn as she got up and turned the computer on. Once it booted up an envelope flashed on the screen indicating new mail in Sue’s account. Flynn opened it and all three stared at the screen.

"They think it’s you
But it’s not
Which makes me laugh
Quite a lot.
Guess who’s next
I want to make it three
Whoever it is
Will work for me."

"Is there any way we can trace where the e-mail came from," asked McCall.
"Someone who is really into computers could probably do it," said Flynn.
"I’m going to take this to the lab and see if they can come up with anything, "said McCall gathering up the CPU. "You guys stay here tonight don’t leave the house. I’ll have an officer do a sweep of the area every hour or so just to make sure you’re ok."

McCall caught up with Hunter at his desk in the almost empty precinct. "What happened with Jenna and Sue?"
"Well, I got a different story this time. I booked them both to give us time to check it out."
McCall gave him a pleading look, "Hunter, did you have to book Jenna?"
"I have a theory McCall, we seem to be finding bodies every third day. Tomorrow is the third day since Ann turned up. If there is another body in the morning and Jenna and Sue have been locked up it eliminates them as suspects... and prevents them from being the body."
It made sense to McCall and she gave a nod, "I just don’t like the thought of Jenna being in jail. You know she may not have that crush on you anymore."
Hunter laughed, "did you get anything from Alyssa or Flynn?"
"As a matter of fact I did. Come with me, there’s something very interesting in the computer lab."

**********

Friday
Hunter’s theory proved right. The third body turned up in Sue Easter’s pool.
Flynn and Alyssa could not resist checking out the tip they had received from Sporty. The party turned out to be a blast, there were so many people there that Flynn and Alyssa became separated. Flynn arrived home in the early morning to find Alyssa floating in the pool.
Hunter and McCall were just as confused as ever. They were sitting in the captain’s office once again going over the case.
McCall stood by the door thinking out loud "We’ve got three bodies; Tara Jack who had ‘Thou shall not complain’, Ann Sing who had ‘Thou shall not bid against’, and now Alyssa Len with ‘Thou shall not kiss’. None of this makes any sense, the only thing that the girls had in common was their obsession with The Searcher."
"What if the inscriptions were just meant to throw us off?" asked Hunter. "You said the e-mail on Sue’s computer couldn’t be traced right?"
"That’s what they told me down in the lab. That the most likely source of the e-mail was Sue’s computer. But why would she e-mail herself?"
"She didn’t, someone else did and I’m betting it was Jenna."
"Hunter there is just no way. And just to prove you wrong I’m going to go and talk with her."
"Okay, I’ll go see what Barney can tell me."

As Hunter was leaving Barney’s office he was nearly knocked off his feet by a tall blonde. At first he didn’t recognize the woman but when she looked up he saw it was Sue. She was almost hysterical. Hunter grabbed both her arms to stop her from shaking and led her to a bench in the hall. Slowly she began telling him what she had seen.
McCall went down to the holding cells to find that both Sue and Jenna had been released last night just after she left the station. Apparently Jenna called Mike Snow who got them out on a technicality, neither had been offered legal council. "Great so I still have three suspects." Thought McCall. Knowing that her friend was probably livid she headed to her car to take a drive out to Sue’s.
The note on the front door of Sue’s house told visitors to go around the back, it was such a nice day that they were eating breakfast on the patio. McCall went around but didn’t see anyone. She stepped in through the sliding glass doors and was stunned. There on the floor was Flynn, hands tied behind her back, feet tied at her ankles and a gag preventing her from screaming. McCall went for her gun in her purse but suddenly the purse was gone. She spun around and into an iron pan.
The tile floor felt good on McCall’s now swollen cheek. She was face down on the floor and the person tieing her hands was practically sitting on her to ensure that she wouldn’t struggle. McCall thought for sure it was Sue. But as the girl yanked McCall up into a sitting position next to Flynn the truth was revealed.
"JENNA! Have you lost your mind?" Yelled McCall beginning to cry.
"No, I haven’t," she answered flatly. "You think this is a joke. Every time I call you and tell you about my new friends on the Internet you laugh. No one ever takes me seriously." McCall didn’t know what to say, she just wanted Jenna to keep talking so she could undo the rope holding her hands and then help Flynn who was crying so hard that she was in danger of chocking. Jenna didn’t seem to notice the small movement to the right McCall had taken. She just kept talking. "Tara just didn’t understand, she wouldn’t have done anything to be with Fred. That’s why she was the first to go. Then there was Ann. She was just too competitive. I HAD to get rid of Alyssa, no one kisses my boyfriend and gets away with it." Jenna had stopped talking. For a moment McCall thought it was because she noticed that her hands were no longer tied. That was not the case what Jenna had seen in the back yard was Hunter and he slowly walked in to the kitchen. Jenna ran up to him and threw her arms around his neck. It wasn’t until he spoke that McCall realized it wasn’t Hunter.
"You see Dee Dee," Jenna said turning her attention to the women on the floor. "I met Fred at one of his famous rap parties. He wanted The Searcher to be famous again so he could cash in. We all know it’s the man that carries these types of shows, and well recently dear old Stephanie Tamer had been hogging more than her share of the limelight. He had this idea that a murder surrounding a fan group would generate a lot of attention and I offered to help."
"Oh God, Please tell me it wasn’t you who killed those girls," asked Dee Dee.
"Yeah, that was me, pretty good huh, I never left one finger print and people say you can’t learn anything from TV."

Just as Jenna had finished her sentence Hunter burst through the door and landed on Fred Washer. This gave McCall time to untie her feet and get her gun off the counter. When McCall looked up at the fighting men she couldn’t decide who was whom. Jenna was having the same problem. McCall decided to deal with Jenna first.
"Jenna, drop your gun." Yelled McCall
Instead Jenna aimed and squeezed the trigger. Her aim was way off and McCall didn’t even have to move to avoid the attack.
"There are still somethings you can’t learn from TV," McCall said as the bullet from her gun tore into Jenna’s hand causing her to drop the gun. McCall kicked it away and hand cuffed Jenna to a barstool.

"Hunter," McCall yelled. "Who keeps my life exciting?"
"I do!" came Hunter’s response. Without so much as a heart beat McCall shot Fred Washer through the heart.

**********

Epilogue
Jenna was found not fit to stand trial and was placed in a psychiatric facility. Shortly after placement Jenna escaped and is still at large.
Both Sue and Flynn were put into the witness protection program and remain there today.