Dream Clues - Chapter 3

Author's Note: Other chapters are available for your review.
Prologue: "Dream Clues - Prologue" 
Chapter 1: "Dream Clues - Chapter 1" 
Chapter 2: "Dream Clues - Chapter 2" 
Chapter 3: "Dream Clues - Chapter 3" 

Dream Clues - Chapter 3

Scene: Sandra Parker’s bedroom.

The afternoon sunlight was pouring in to the living room window. The frustration in Sandra’s face was evident. It had been twenty-four hours since Marcus had challenged her and this had been the third time she was reading her notes on Marcus’ first dream. Deciphering the clues of this dream was not that difficult, but her mind kept wandering. Granted, she was feeling the aches of the prior nights racquetball match with her boyfriend Jonathon Carter. Still, she had never felt this distracted before. Surely, the fatigue she was feeling in her body was not affecting her analytical abilities.

She looked back down at her lap and opened her copy of the dream journal that Marcus had been keeping. She turned to February 12 in the journal and began to read:

I am standing in the woods with my Sister, Mary. She appears to be mad at me, but I don’t know why. It is dark and I am scared. I can hear water running near us, but I can’t figure out the direction of the sound. All I can see is trees, because it is too dark to see anything else.

Mary grabs my right arm and tells me to “Look, Marcus. Can you see her?”
I follow her gaze and at first, I do not see anything. Then I start to see the shape of someone standing beside a tree. I can’t make out who she is but I can clearly see that she is wearing a green, hooded sweatshirt.

I look away from the woman towards Mary and ask, “Who is she, Mary? What does she want?”

Mary looks disappointed at my questions. “You know what you must do, Marcus. You must save her.”

I then find myself in a dark basement or cellar. I don’t recognize the basement. I can see wine racks along one wall and old, dusty shelves full of stuff along another wall. I see a small wooden table next the stairs with a single burning candle. This appears to be the only light in the room.

It smells musty and it feels damp. I can hear bells ringing in the distance. Mary is sitting in a chair in the center of the room. She looks like she is asleep, but there appears to be blood under the chair she is sitting in. I don’t know if it is her blood or someone else’s.

I look at the shelf again and notice a small cage. I approach the cage and see a small kitten within. I find this very disturbing. I want to release the kitten from the cage, but it is asleep, so I leave it alone.

I look back at Mary and decide to go get help. I climb the staircase to the top and find a door. I try to open it, but it is locked. I go back down the stairs and notice another door by the wine shelf. It appears to be some type of closet. I try the door handle, but it is locked too.

I wake-up feeling helpless and alone.

Sandra placed the journal on the couch next to her and picked up her notes. There were many symbols in the dream.

According to Hazel, Marcus’s sister was dead. Therefore, Marcus dreaming of his dead sister could represent a potential clairvoyant event. A combination of the other symbols in the dream also supported this possibility including the basement and burning candle. A basement typically symbolized a connection to the past or subconscious mind. The burning candle typically symbolized spiritual guidance or the search for truth.

The ringing bells could represent that a friend could be sick and this dream is a forewarning to Marcus to alert his friend.

Both the stairway and closet doors being locked represented inaccessible or hidden information. This told Sandra that there was more to Marcus’ problems not divulged in the dream.

Blood typically represented loss of control. Sandra believed that this symbol pointed to Marcus’ feelings toward the death of his sister five years ago. Marcus was suppose to drive Mary to work, but decided to sleep in late. A drunk driver had crossed the centerline in to her lane and hit her car head-on. Both drivers were killed instantly. Marcus never forgave himself for not driving her to work that day.
Another symbol was the unknown woman in the woods. Dreaming of unknown women typically symbolizes love or your mother. She was not sure if this symbol was significant to Marcus’ dream.

She was unable to decipher the meaning behind the green hooded sweatshirt the woman was wearing. Green is typically a strong symbol in dreams representing healing, health, money, and independence. However, it could also represent deceit. This particular symbol did not seem to fit well with the other symbols in the dream. Therefore, Sandra dismissed this symbol as a misleading dream clue. She knew that many dreams have components that do not mean anything. This must had been the case with the woman in the woods.

The one major symbol that bothered Sandra the most was the kitten in the cage and the darkness. These symbols normally represented caring urges and youth. However, they could also represent an evil presence and possibly death. It was possible that one of Marcus’ friends was actually dieing. She wrote a reminder note to herself to question Marcus further on this possibility.

* * *

Scene: Homicide Unit Headquarters.

Detective Kate Elmore sat at her desk reviewing her notes on the murders. Her flaming red hair was pulled back in to a ponytail. She may not look tough like most cops, but she used her small 5-foot-2 body to her advantage. She may be small, but she is also very quick. Several police officers, as a joke, bestowed the nickname, Tiger, on her. This was because they had witnessed her turn in to a wild tiger when a suspect had underestimated her skills and ability to incapacitate them. Before they knew what hit them, the suspect would find themselves on their stomach and their hands would be cuffed behind their back.

Kate did not appreciate the nickname because she thought that her peers were making fun of her. Based on her experience, most of her peers did not respect her, but here she was, thanks to Daniel.

Daniel looked over his desk to Kate at her desk. “Have you called the Reeves family yet for the follow-up interview?”

Kate looked up from her notes. “I was fix’n to call them now. Do you want to listen in?”

Daniel thought for a moment and then shook his head. “Nah, you’ve got it. Let me know what they say.” Daniel looked back down at his notes and then back at Kate.
“Did you like being in the Army, Kate?”

Kate smirked. “I actually loved the Army. The black and white of it was comforting. There was never any gray like in the real world. We knew who was in charge and we did not question orders. Don’t get me wrong, we had our own set of internal politics in the C.I.D. unit I was attached to, but all it took was one officer to tell us to knock it off and the political issue was dropped.”

Daniel was familiar with the Criminal Investigation Division in the U.S. Army. When he was told that Kate Elmore was going to be his partner, he did his own research in to her background. She had been in the Military Police for two years when she was accepted in to the C.I.D. and was transferred in to the CID Headquarters at Fort Gillem, just south of Atlanta.

One of her investigations involved a high profile murder-for-hire case. Her peers and commanding officer had already recognized her for her intuitive investigative abilities. However, what impressed Daniel was her attention to detail and dedication to the case. At one point late in the investigation, her life was threatened, but this did not stop Kate. In fact, she worked twice as hard to solve the case. Her diligence paid off when they broke the case. She was awarded the Army Commendation Medal for her extraordinary dedication to duty. Daniel was counting on that attention to detail to break this case.

“Why do you ask?” Kate looked over at Daniel for some type of explanation. “Just curious, that’s all.” Daniel resumed reviewing his notes.

Kate picked-up her phone and dialed Cheryl Reeves parents’ telephone number in Nashville.

A man picked-up the phone. “Hello!” His voice sounded tired.

“Hello, Mr. Reeves. My name is Detective Kate Elmore with the Atlanta Police Department. First let me express my condolences for the loss of your daughter, Cheryl.”

“Thank you. What can I do for you, Detective?”

“Mr. Reeves, we know that Cheryl was in Atlanta for some type of technology seminar. Did she know anyone or have any family members in Atlanta that you know of?”

“No family members. We all live here in Nashville. She may have had some co-workers in Atlanta, but I’m not sure. You should really be talking with her boss at NetSat Solutions. Have you talked with them yet?”

Kate looked at her notes on NetSat Solutions. She had been unsuccessful in finding any information about the company.

“We are actually having problems tracking down the company. Do you know if they are located in Nashville?”

Kate could hear the frustration in Mr. Reeves voice when he said, “No. Cheryl worked from home as a consultant. I’m not sure where the company is located. You are the cops. You figure it out.”

Kate was felt badly for Mr. Reeves. “We are working on it, Mr. Reeves. I only have a few more questions for you.” Kate paused. “What did Cheryl do for NetSat Solutions?”

“I’m not sure. I think it was something to do with computers talking with each other or something like that. She is a really…” he paused and cleared his throat. “She was a really smart girl, my Cheryl. She always got in to computers and trying to figure out how stuff worked. Why would someone kill my little girl, Detective?”

Kate sighed, “We don’t know yet Mr. Reeves, but we will find out and catch the man who did this to Cheryl. I promise.” Kate heard a hushed sniffle over the phone. “I just have one more question for you right now Mr. Reeves. When was the last time you talked with Cheryl?”

“Cheryl came over to the house last Saturday for dinner. She was driving to Atlanta the next morning. My wife said that Cheryl called her Sunday night around 9 p.m. and they chatted for a while. My wife said that there was no indication that anything was wrong. The plan was Cheryl would be at the conference through Friday and then she would drive back home. We knew something was wrong when Cheryl did not call her Mom on Monday night. You see, Cheryl called her Mom every single night. Sometimes the conversations would only last a couple of minutes or they could go on for hours. It really all depended on how much gossip my wife was spreading at the time.” Kate could hear a smile form on Mr. Reeves face for the first time during their conversation.

“Thank You for your time, Mr. Reeves. I’ll be in contact with you if we need more information or if we find something out. Thanks again!”

“Find this maniac, Detective. Please!” Kate could hear the desperation in his voice.
“Will do, sir! Good-bye!” Kate placed the phone back in to the cradle and began updating her notes.

* * *

Scene: FBI Field Office.

Special Agent Roger Campbell was sitting at his computer at the FBI Field Office cross checking any cases that may have included strangulation with impalement post-mortem in the left eye. There were plenty of strangulation cases and there were plenty of impalement cases. However, no cases included both. His serial killer search in the CODIS (Combined DNA Index System) database was also coming up empty.

The local authorities, GBI, and FBI had been successful in arresting several serial killers in Atlanta, but they did not originate here. The last recorded serial killer case that originated in Atlanta was Wayne Bertram Williams in 1979. Williams was accused of killing as many as 30 African-American children over a two-year period. However, they could only convict him for two of the killings.

Roger remembered watching the news of the Williams trial when he was a child. He was only 11 years old at the time of the killings, but he remembered how his mother reacted. Raising three children alone was tough enough in the black community, without having to deal with a serial killer targeting their children.

It was Roger’s fascination with the Williams trail that first got him interested in criminal justice. Being a cop was not enough. He had to be an FBI Special Agent. This single goal, along with the occasional smack downs from his mother, inspired Roger to finish High School and graduate from Clark Atlanta University with a degree in Criminal Justice. Upon graduation, Roger applied and was accepted to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The day he graduated the FBI Academy was one of the happiest days in Roger’s life.

Now at 38 years old with over fifteen years of experience and well respected by his FBI colleagues, this had not been enough for Roger’s mother. Every chance she got she would pester him about getting married and having a family too. Roger would try to explain to his mother that he was not ready to settle down, but she would just shake her head and set him up on another blind date with some daughter of one of her many friends. Roger could not seriously protest to his mother. She had sacrificed too much and he owed her his life. He thought to himself, who knows, maybe all of the blind dates would pay-off one day when he would find his true love. Plus, the blind dates forced Roger to get out socially at least once a month.

Roger looked down at his notes on the other two killings. A thought came to his mind. “I’ll be damned. Why didn’t I see that before? Okay, let’s try a different type of search.” He placed his hands on his keyboard and began typing feverishly.

Author's Note: Other chapters are available for your review.
Prologue: "Dream Clues - Prologue" 
Chapter 1: "Dream Clues - Chapter 1" 
Chapter 2: "Dream Clues - Chapter 2" 
Chapter 3: "Dream Clues - Chapter 3"