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it got her out of the house.
     
    ***
     
    Chief Detective Ryan Mapus sat at his desk. A thick mop of darkly-shaded, blond hair hung over his forehead as he leaned into his work. His white, rolled-up shirt sleeves, displayed well-muscled arms, the benefit of working out daily in the police gym. He raised his head when the door opened and Officer Art Jarvis came shuffling in, a sheaf of papers clutched in his hand. Ryan heard wheezing as the overweight man puffed toward him with a glow of excitement glistening in his eyes. Ryan disliked the man and wished he could ignore him.
    “Morning, Ryan, how’s it going?” A sly chuckle escaped his lips. “Got something for you and, man, you’ll never believe this!” He slapped the manila file on Ryan’s desk, making his already overloaded desktop look even messier as a few scattered papers flew about in disarray.
    “Here now, dammit, quit slopping up my desk!” he groused. “What the hell you got there?” Ryan disliked a disturbance, unless it ranked high in importance, and he couldn’t help how he viewed Jarvis, either.
    “Remember the case where that kiddie predator, Callahan, got off on account of that Miranda thing?” Jarvis’s fleshy, tanned face bore a secretive grin. He had a protruding paunch, and his clothes were even more unkempt today. He wheezed occasionally, even without exertion, as he stood before Ryan’s desk.
    “Yeah, yeah, who could forget that screw-up? The entire city was ready to bring out a lynch mob and I don’t blame them—damned idiot rookie!”
    “Somebody took real good care of the bastard.” Jarvis shoved a fleshy forefinger down on the report and tapped. “Take a look.”
    “No shit, you’re kidding—what’re you saying?” Ryan’s head snapped up and his blue eyes honed in on the report. He felt his pulse begin to race as he grabbed up the papers and took a detailed look.
    “Read it and weep,” Jarvis wheezed. “Hey, now you’ve got to protect the bastard. We didn’t help that poor kid worth a damn, but Callahan’s got his rights, you know.” Jarvis wheezed a laugh, belched, and his paunch jiggled beneath his thin cotton shirt. Ryan suppressed a snort of disgust. “Looks good so far. Tell me what you know about it while I check this report.” Ryan spread the papers over his desk and continued reading. After a few moments, he slammed his fist on them. “Jesus, God! “Somebody sure as hell had it in for the miserable bastard.” As a male, he readily appreciated the utter devastation the poor guy faced for the rest of his life. He shivered in distaste. “Now that’s what I call revenge!”
    “Harris saw him at the Emergency Room, and it’s completely permanent according to the ER Doc. It was our dear Freddie for sure. Said he sniveled and whined all the way through the report and complained about his civil rights being violated. He was worried we wouldn’t work real hard finding the guy who did it.” Jarvis laughed at the idea. “Bastard won’t be molesting little boys real soon, not after what somebody did to ‘im.” Jarvis had small children at home, too. Most of the staff did.
    A lazy smile spread across Ryan’s lips “He’ll have to come in so we can finish this report. I imagine that’ll be my pleasure. Should be real, real, interesting.” He continued to read the report, not finding much that Jarvis hadn’t reported. “Do they know what this purple stain is?”
    “Not yet, it’s in the lab. Found a few drops at the crime scene, and the ER, along with what was left of his gonads. They were little more than mush by what they picked up. The boys had ‘em in a little plastic bag along with some gravel.” Jarvis shuddered and wheezed at the same time. “Alan told Callahan to come in and complete his statement as soon as he can walk and sit down, something he can’t do just now.” He snickered. “I’m sorry, Ryan, but it’s damned hard to be professional about this case.” He turned to leave, a