Constable Doyle

Newly promoted in the police force, constable Sarah Doyle’s arrives for her first day in the office. She has just started at a new district office, in a small regional town population 140,000. She enters the building, and is greeted by her lieutenant who gives her the tour and introduces her to her fellow colleagues.

“This is your desk Sarah and your computer, so ill leave you to it”

She takes a seat, and admires her desk for a few minutes before deciding to go grab her things from her car. She returns and sets her desk up, with her stationary, her note pads and pens. She logs in to the police system to see what is going on in the local town. After about 30 minutes of searching she is struggling to find any work to do.

“Damn, things are quiet today”

She decides to get a coffee and gets up and heads for the kitchen. As she walks in her sergeant is also in there making a coffee. She waits to use the espresso machine, as her sergeant turns around her sees her, “ this coffee machine will be your best friend in a few weeks”.

“Really why is that sarge”

“Well in case you haven’t noticed from the reporting on the police system there is not much going on around here.”

Sarah is a little disappointed she has come from a small country town with only a few thousand people and was really hoping to be busy, and brush up on her skills and hopefully become a detective one day.

“ So what do you do all day then if there is nothing going on”, she asks.

“Well I drink coffee lots of coffee, Google, go to the gym. If your really bored there are a few unsolved cases in storage most of them have been there for over a year with no new leads”.

“Ok well I might just go and have a look anyways, thanks”.

They both depart the kitchen with a coffee in hand.

Sarah walks down the hallway and spots a sign to the storeroom. She enters to find a room filled with shelving and boxes stacked everywhere. On the boxes are labels of the victims or incidents.

 After a little searching around she finds two boxes with “john doe and unsolved cases” she grabs the first box down and takes the lid off and empties the files onto a table. Sarah starts sifting through the files, until one catches her eye.

She opens it up and starts to read the cover pages. This particular case involves 2 women. They both reported being held within their house by an unknown man. She opens the first case file and starts to read.

Victim – Louise Sanchute, aged 24, single, living by herself in an apartment within the city.

Victims Testimony – It was about 545 in the afternoon and I had just been for a light jog down around my block, where I usually jog every afternoon. I get home and go inside and a few seconds later the doorbell rings. I open the timber door and leave the screen door locked, and there is a man standing there, about 6 foot tall, medium build, beard that is groomed, dressed in a long sleeve white shirt with blue tie and black trousers. On his shirt there is a work logo, saying ergon energy. I greet him and he introduces him self as David from ergon energy.

He is clearly wearing an ID tag that stated his name and employer. He tells me that there is government incentive being offered at the moment, for free energy evaluations and they are also offering energy saving light bulbs at no cost. I have had energy resellers around before and didn’t really think twice. He asked if I would be interested in finding out how I could save on my electricity bill, so I politely allowed him in to my unit. He had a large black or dark brown brief case with him. We enter the dinning room and he places his case down, and I offer him a glass of water, so I head to the kitchen which was just near by and the next thing I remember is waking up. I’m tied to one of my dinning room chairs, my right foot is up on a chair in front of me and there is this kind of boot fitted to my foot, it looks like a boot you would wear for an injury, but it had wires and motors and a battery pack on the side.  My hands were tied behind the chair, my thighs were tied down to the base of the chair, my left leg was tied to the leg of the chair and I had a rag tied around my mouth.

I was really dazed for a few moments and I had no idea what was going on, was this someone playing a joke, what’s wrong with my foot. I see my sneaker and sock on the ground and I can very slightly move my foot within this mechanical boot but I had no idea why I was wearing it.

He reaches down to the boot on my foot, and presses a button, and few little lights illuminate green, I can see they have numbers on them 1,2,3.  He looks at me and says I want you to pick a number between 1 and 3. Ill hold up my fingers and you nod at which number you want.  So he starts with 1 finger, then 2 fingers then 3 fingers. I don’t nod at first, so he says, “if you don’t pick one it will have to be number 3”. “One last chance, 1 finger”, I don’t know if it’s a trick but I figure ill pick the number in between. “2 fingers”, I nod my head. He reaches down and presses the number 2 on the boot. In seconds it comes alive, first I feel my foot being moved into a pointed position then it twists outwards a little and then it pauses for a few seconds. I can feel my ankle twisting, then in an instant it snaps inwards twisting my foot inwards. Having sprained an ankle before I instantly knew what just happened, my ankle was sprained. The device returns to the center. I started to feel the pain radiating from my ankle almost instantly. I clench my hands tightly as the pain starts to grow.  

He sees a tear fall from my eye and gets a tissue and wipes them off my face, almost like he was now trying to help me. He slowly undoes the buckles on the boot and it splits in half, he lifts my leg gently, and slides the boot out before resting my foot back on the chair. As soon as the boot was removed I remember looking at my ankle and I watched as a large egg started to form on the outside of my ankle. He goes to his bag again and then moves behind me and then the next thing I know is I’m waking up again, but now I’m lying on my couch. My sprained ankle is bandaged and in an air cast. My foot has been propped up on some pillows and there is a soft ice pack resting on my foot. As I come too and realized what just happened, I notice some crutches with a note attached to them resting against the table. I gently move my foot and get up. I try and put some pressure on my ankle but it is too painful so I hop to the table, I grab the note of the crutches and it reads, “Hi Louise I hope your are doing ok, I have left these crutches for you to use. You have a grade 2 sprained ankle, so no walking for a week and lots of rest and ice and elevation”, It was really weird.

From as far as I could tell all that had happened was I had a sprained ankle, I wasn’t harmed or hurt any other way nor was I sexually abused. The next thing I did was ring the police of course.

End Of Testimony

Sarah sits bewildered for a few minutes, how odd he sprains her ankle and treats her like a patient. She checks the evidence notes and it shows they took a few finger prints of the crutches but was unable to get a match, and other than that there was no further evidence.

Sarah turns the pages and gets to the second victim.

Victim - Annabelle Stark, age 22, single, living by herself in an apartment.

Victim Testimony – I had just got home from the gym as I pulled in the driveway I saw a man walking up my street. Annabelle then continues to describe the man the same as Louise did, but this time the man was clean shaven.

So he approaches me as I’m just getting out of my car, I grab my gym bag and turn around and he says hello. He was very kind and well spoken and he introduced himself as Aaron from Ergon Energy and then rattled of a storey about a government initiative and free light bulbs. Now I’m a single female and I had a few blown bulbs in the house, so I figured I could at least get him to change those for me, and besides I had these representatives approach me before many times and didn’t think twice. So I open the door and just as I walk in the front door, I feel him reach over my head. The next thing I know is I wake up inside my house tied to a dinning room chair. My hands tied behind the chair, my thighs tied down to the base of the chair, my left foot on the ground and my leg tied to the leg of the chair, and lastly my right foot was out straight in front of me resting on a chair with this boot on my ankle. It looked like some kind of medical boot or shoe. At first I thought maybe I fell and injured my self and knocked my head or something, but why was I tied up. As I snap out of my daze and I ask what is going on. He looks at me and says, “everything will be ok ma’am, I’m here to take care of your ankle”. Still a little dazed from what ever it was that made me black out. I ask, “What is wrong with my ankle”. He leans down and presses a button on the side of the boot, illuminating three green lights. “It’s going to be sprained”, he replies. I immediately freaked out and started yelling, but it didn’t deter him at all, after yelling for about 30 seconds, he looks at me says, “ its no use yelling no one will hear you, your windows are double glazed and your neighbors are all still at work. This spooked me, how did he know so much about my house and my neighbors. He then looks at me and says, “we are going to play a little game, you pick a number between 1 and 3”. I didn’t know what was about to happen, before I could stop my self I said, “one”. He reaches down and presses the number 1 on the side of the boot. The boot comes to life, I feel my foot straighten and my toes begin to point forward as the boot moves around. Then with a quick snap, my ankle is twisted inwards. I feel a sharp pain my ankle, having sprained ankles before I knew the feeling too well. The boot then springs back to life and repositions my foot to the starting position. I feel my ankle starting to throb a little more as its rested within the boot. What happens next is the weird part. He genuinely takes care of my ankle. Firstly he unties my hands so they are free, I could have tried to do something but he was much bigger than me and I sensed that he wasn’t going to cause any more harm to me. I feel the rope around my thighs, but I can’t reach the knots as they are tied under the seat base. He walks off for a few minutes and returns with his case and opens it up firstly he grabs a ice pack from his bag, it’s the kind you have to twist or press to activate it.  He looks at me and says, “here hold this for me”. I take it in my hand and hold it, then he stands up and stats to undo the straps holding the boot on. He cracks the boot in half and gently lifts my leg out of the boot exposing my barefoot and swollen ankle. He then gently places my ankle down on the chair. He asks for the ice pack and he twists it in his hands to activate the ingredients and it becomes instantly frozen. He gently places it down onto my ankle, making sure not to cause me any more pain. Then he retrieves a bandage from his case, brand new never been used. He takes it out of its wrapping, and places it on the chair next to my ankle. Then after about 10 minutes he asks how my ankle is feeling. I can only think to tell the truth at this stage, “it feels much better, the ice really helps”. He removes the ice pack from my ankle and I can see that the swelling has already started to reduce. “ You have a grade 1 sprain Annabelle”. I don’t respond, but cant help but think he knows what he is talking about, I have had lots of sprains and from my experience I can tell its only minor. He grabs the bandage off the chair and says, “ Hold you leg up and I will wrap your ankle”. I lean forward and hold my leg up. He wraps my ankle in the 3’ bandage like a pro, its perfectly neat, leaving my heel and toes exposed and its wrapped tight but not too tight. He then rests my foot back down on the chair and places the ice pack back on my ankle. By this point I’m thinking this is the kindest kidnapper in history. He packs up his bag and places it near the front door. When he returns he looks at me and says, “Annabelle I’m going to untie you so that I can help you to the sofa, I would suggest you don’t try and run otherwise you will injure your ankle more.” I kind of nod, and to be honest I knew I wasn’t running anywhere on this ankle at the moment. I feel the ropes become loose around my left leg, and the ropes on my thighs. He grabs the ropes and puts them next to his bag. He returns, and gently lifts my right leg up as he removes the chair and then cradles my foot in his hands and gently places it on the ground.

He positions him self on my left side and then puts my arm over his shoulders and helps me to stand. I hold my right foot just of the ground at this stage. He looks and me and says, “lets walk to the couch”. I place my right foot down gently and take a step. I can bare weight on my ankle ok, but I’m limping a bit.

He helps me to the couch and lays me down, then props my ankle up on a stack of pillows and then places the ice pack back on my ankle.

He turns around and walks to the door picks up his stuff, and before he walks out he tells me to keep it elevated for the next couple hours and keep it wrapped for the next week, and then walks out the door.

Once he left my first thought was to ring the police, but my ankle felt much better wrapped and resting on pillows with the ice, that I just thought about it for a while. It wasn’t until the next morning when I told a friend about it that she convinced me to ring the police.

End of testimony

No finger prints were lifted this time, but she did say that she could see that the man had a tattoo on his left forearm, that could be seen just through his shirt. It was colorful and quite large but she couldn’t make out what it was.

Sarah grabs the files and closes the box, and decides to go visit the last victim. It was just over a year that it had happened but she wanted to talk to her to see if she had missed or remembered anything since then.

Sarah arrives at Annabelle’s apartment, and makes her way to the door, pressing the door bell lightly, she hears the chimes echo down the hallway.

Annabelle answers the door, “morning officer, can I help you?”

Sarah replies, “ Are you Annabelle Stark”,

“Yes I am, what is the problem, officer?”

“Do you have a few minutes, I would just like to talk you about your incident last year?”

“Yes sure come in”.

Sarah enters and they take a seat at the dinning room table. Sarah explains that she is going over the case again and just wanted to know if she had thought of or remembered anything new.

Annabelle thinks for a few moments, “well there is one thing”

“Yes what is that Annabelle, anything can help”

“Well I saw a man a few months back, he was at the gym, he looked kind of similar, but I didn’t really get close enough to have a good look. This guy had a tattoo on his left forearm though and I could see that when it happened because he was wearing a long sleeve shirt.”

It then dawns on sarah, maybe this bloke had seen these girls at the gym and followed them home.

She gets the name of the gym that Annabelle goes to and then, thanks her for her help.

Sarah heads home for the day, and ponders over the case. That night she can’t switch off and thinks about the case all night.

The next morning she is the first one to arrive at the station, she phones the other victim and finds out what gym or gyms they regularly visited. After getting of the phone she is stumped again, there is absolutely no connection at all. They all go to different gyms, live in different areas, and work at different places. She gets in her car and visits the gyms, asking questions to see if anyone recognises the man. After hrs of questions she has got no more leads to go from. She drops the files back at work and heads home for the day. Frustrated with her findings, she decides to go for a run that afternoon. She puts on her sports cloths, grabs her IPod and heads off.

After about 1 hr she is almost back at her house, when she is met be another man running. Exhausted she doesn’t take to much attention of his appearance as he makes small talk while on the jog.  They stop at the front of her house, and talk for a few moments, and then Sarah turns to enter her gate. From the corner of her eye something catches her attention, he has a tattoo on his left forearm. Just as she turns around the man holds a cloth to her mouth and she collapses in his arms.

She starts to come too moments later, at first she is dazed not sure what is going on and then she starts to remember.  As she tries to move she feels her self bound to a chair her arms bound behind the chair, her thighs tied down to the base of the chair, her left leg bound to the leg of the chair and her right leg sitting on another chair with a boot on it, exactly as described by her victims. The man is dressed in what appears to be a business suit, he is also wearing what appears to be a professionally made rubber mask that hides his face and neck area. She fights against the restraints to get free but it is helpless, her muffled moans are not heard any further than a meter away.

“So Sarah you have found some interest in me, unfortunately though I have found you first.” He reaches down and presses the ON button on the boot. Sarah moans again and squirms, trying to break free.

“Do you like the boot Sarah, I made this one just for you.”

“ Do you know what comes next Sarah, what number shall it be!!!!!”

Sarah moans again.

“I think we might go straight to number three, I haven’t tried number 3. You will need a lot of care after this though”.

Sarah squirms a little but knows its useless, she notices she is still wearing her shoe and sock, which is different from the other victims.

He reaches down and presses the number one, the sound of small electric motors fill the room as the boot comes alive, her foot is rotated so her toes are pointed forward, there is pause, then the motors start again, Sarah feels her foot being twisted inwards. She squirms but it makes not difference. The motors stop, then they start again returning her foot to the original position.

“That’s a number 1 Sarah, how does it feel?”

Sarah lets out some moans through the rag that is tied around her mouth. She has never sprained ankle before so the feeling was new, it was throbbing a little but not to bad.

“ What next, number 2 or should we go straight to number 3.”

He leans down and his finger hovers over the numbers, “enie meanie minie mo.”

His finger stops above the number 3, Sarah watches as he gently presses the number 3 button. The motor whine starts again, her foot is pointed forward, then it starts to twist inwards, Sarah clenches the chair with her hands. Unlike the reports from the other victims this boot appears to move really slowly. She feels her ankle start to get tight as it slowly twists inwards. She can feel the anterior ligament starting to stretch, her moans muffled by the rag over her mouth. It continues to twist her ankle, a crackling sound echoes through the room as the ligament starts to tear. Sarah squirms, trying to break free. The motors continue to whine twisting it more, and more. Sarah sheds a tear as her ankle twists further, she feels the fibers in her ligament tearing ever so slowly. She now can feel the calcaneo ligament starting to tear, sending more waves of pain. The motors stop momentarily and silence fills the room. Sarah unable to do anything, unexpectedly the motor springs to life and offers one final fast twist, “POP” echoes off the walls, louder than the motors, louder than her moans. Sarah’s feels the ligament let go in her ankle. The motors slowly start to return back to the its original position. The movement of her ankle is excruciating. She sheds a few more tears and a few muffled moans until her ankle stops moving. She clutches the chair with her hands, as the throbbing pain begins to shoot from her ankle, radiating up her calf and down to her toes.

Sarah feels the boot getting tighter on her foot, she knows her ankle is swelling already, the man looks at her and wipes the tears from her cheeks, “Its ok Sarah ill take care of you”

He slowly undoes the straps on the boot. The boot splits in half just as described. There is a slight relief as the pressure of the boot squeezing her swollen ankle is release. He lifts her leg up gently just enough to slide the boot out, sending pain through her ankle. He places her foot back down gently on the chair. Sarah feels her ankle swelling instantly. In seconds there is an egg the size of a tennis ball protruding from her sneaker. She feels the sneaker tightening on her foot, pressing in on the swelling.  She moans again, “ppppllllleeese.”

“Do you want me to remove that rag Sarah?”

“Will you play nice if I do?”

Sarah nods her head forward, acknowledging that she will play nice.

At this point Sarah knows that her ankle is severely sprained, and she knows what comes next from his previous victims.

He reaches over and slowly unties the rag covering her mouth.

“Oh god, my ankle, why, why do you do this?”, she asks.

“I want to help you Sarah, tell me what you want me to do.”

“Please my shoe, you need to take it off, it’s too tight.”

He slowly moves to her foot, and starts to untie her shoelaces. One at a time he feeds them out until her sneaker is as loose as it can possible be.

He places his hand under her leg, and gently lifts her ankle, “oh god, be quick “

He very gently and smoothly guides her sneaker off, exposing her slim socked foot. While cradling her ankle in his palm he gently rests her foot back down on the chair.

He admires her ankle, the swelling is like a tennis ball sticking out of her ankle.

“My sock to, please my sock.”

He gently peels her ankle sock down and slowly rolls the little ankle sock over her heel. She squirms in the chair, as the sock presses in on the protruding bulge on her ankle.

 “Oh god, my ankle its so painful”

Gently the sock is removed exposing her size 7 slim foot, with perfectly manicured toes painted bright blue. Her foot is gently rested back onto the chair offering some relief. He grabs his bag and starts digging through it, and retrieves a small spray can.

“This will help Sarah.”

He removes the lid and begins to spray her ankle.

“It’s a numbing spray, it will only take a few seconds to start working.”

He continues to spray until he has used the whole can.

Sarah waits, fists clenched, until she feels the pain slowly subsiding to a more bearable level.

“How bad is it”, she asks.

“You have a grade 3 sprain Sarah, and your anterior ligament is completely torn and calcaneo ligament is partially torn.”

He continues to check her ankle every couple minutes monitoring the swelling. It gradually increases. The tennis ball size egg remains, the inside of her ankle now starts to balloon outwards as well.

He opens his case again and fetches an ice pack, an ace wrap and an air cast. He places them down on the table next to Sarah, and then packs his bag up.

He asks Sarah if she has any anti-inflammatory medication in the house.

“Yes over in the draw near the stove”. He sifts through the draw until he finds some, and then grabs a glass of water and takes them back to Sarah.

“Here take these it will help with the pain and the swelling.” He places the pills in her mouth and then slowly pours some water in to help her swollow them.

He has another look at her ankle and the inside of her ankle is now very swollen, her whole ankle has turned into a round ball.

“We need to get you to the couch so you can elevate that ankle, so I’m going to untie you and help you.”

Sarah nods in acknowledgment. Her internal instincts are telling her to run, but her head is saying he only wants to help you now, and physically she knows she cant run anywhere.

He unties the rope on her left leg, and then loosens the rope around her thighs. She feels her self being released from the grasp of the rope and gently rubs her legs where the rope had been tied.

He leans over her ankle and says, “ I’m going to remove the chair now and place your foot on the ground ok”.

“ok”, she replies.

Sarah holds her right leg with her hands as he gently lifts her ankle. Sarah lets out a moan as the pain of moving her ankle shoots up her leg. He gently cradles her ankle in his palm, and pulls the chair away and then slowly lowers her foot to the ground. Sarah holds her leg as her ankle gently rests on the floor.

He moves around to her left side, and puts his arm around Sarah. Instinctively Sarah places her arm over his shoulder for support. He slowly helps her stand up, and instantly Sarah feels the blood rushing to her ankle.  She pauses for a moment, and looks down at her ankle. Her manicured toes sprinkle light onto her very swollen ankle.

“I want to see if I can bare any weight”, Sarah lightly muffles in between the waves of pain coming from her ankle.

She gently moves her right foot forward slightly, and places it gently on the ground. She transfers some body weight to her ankle. Her face grimaces in pain, but she continues as she takes a small step.  It is at this point Sarah realises how bad her ankle really is. Even with that little amount of weight her ankle felt like it was going to give out.

“I don’t think you should try anymore steps”, he says. Sarah looks to him and agrees. She gently lifts her right foot up in front of her and whilst leaning heavily on his shoulders she slowly starts to take small hops towards the sofa. Her ankle unsupported, just hanging there, jolted every hop she takes. It feels like someone is pulling on her ankle with every hop. She rests after a few hops, and rests her ankle on the ground. She reaches for her leg, squeezing tightly as the pain radiates from her ankle.

Only a few more she tells her self, as she lets go of her leg and makes a final dash for the sofa. She sits down gradually resting her ankle on the floor. He grabs a few pillows and makes a pile and then helps cradle her ankle up onto the pillows, gently resting her ankle down. Sarah sighs in relief as her ankle is gently cradled onto the pillows. The man walks off and returns with the stuff retrieved from his bag, and an ice pack. He preps the ice pack but squeezing it to activate it, and then gently places it on her ankle. He then grabs the 4” bandage and removes it from its wrapper.

He asks Sarah to gently lift her ankle up so that he can wrap the ice pack on. She sits up and gently lifts her leg up, he starts the wrap on her leg and works his way down her ankle encasing the ice pack onto her ankle, and only leaving her toes exposed. He secures the end of the bandage with two clips and then cradles her ankle back onto the pillows.

He grabs the air cast and puts it by her side and says, “ When the ice stops working remove the ice pack, rewrap your ankle and put this air cast on. It will give your ankle good support while it heals”.

She looks up at him and murmurs, “OK”.

With out any further interaction he grabs his bag, and leaves her, closing the door behind him.

Sarah lies on the couch thinking about what just happened. Her ankle now numb from the ice and the pain has reduced considerable. She doesn’t know what to do. If I call this in I will be the laughing stock of the station.

She feels very helpless at the moment, unable to walk. She lies there resting for a couple hrs. The ice pack is no longer cold, so she pulls herself up into a seated position and slowly unwraps her ankle. After removing the bandage and the ice pack, she inspects her ankle. It is very swollen. The inside and the outside of her ankle completely engulfed by the swelling. Her heel also engulfed by the swelling. There is discoloration starting to appear on the inside of her heel and the outside of her ankle.  She re wraps her ankle in the bandage, and then puts the air cast on. Her ankle feels much better with the air cast on.

She needs some crutches and some time off work so she decides that a visit to the hospital is required. She gently lifts her foot down of the sofa, and slowly stands up. She holds her right foot just on the ground. She very slowly starts to hop towards the kitchen to get her phone.  Only being new in the area she doesn’t have any friends here to call so she decides she would ring her boss first. She picks up the phone and starts to dial her work number, It rings a few times until the operator answers. “can you please put me through to the lieutenant, this is  constable Doyle”.

“One moment please”.

“Lieutenant Cortes”.

“ Hi sir this is constable Doyle, I’m just ringing to say that I have had an accident at home and have injured my ankle.”

He starts to ask a lot of questions

“ How did you do it? how bad is it? what is the swelling like?”

She stumbles for a moment, “umm well I was out running this afternoon and managed to step in a pot hole and sprained my ankle pretty badly.”

“Ok”, the lieutenant replies.

“Do you need to get to the hospital”, he asks in a concerning voice.

She stumbles again, thinking back to what the intruder said to her, “I pretty sure its just a bad sprain I think I just need a couple days off and then if I don’t get any improvement ill go see a doctor.”

“Ok then well you let me know if you need anything”, the lieutenant replies.

“Ok thanks”, and they hang up.

Clearly he seems to be very understanding. She slowly makes her way back to the couch, propping her ankle back up on the pillows with a fresh ice pack. Thinking nothing more she tries to relax as her ankles starts to go numb again from the ice.

As the days go by her ankle improves slowly, the swelling begins to reduce, the bruising slowly works it way out. After about 3 weeks she is able to bare some weight again, enough to get back into work on restricted duties.  She never decides to see a doctor as it appears to be healing ok.

When she returns to work she is greeted by her lieutenant who asks her various questions about her ankle. How’s the swelling going? How’s the weight bearing? How’s the movement? etc etc. At first she thought maybe he was just concerned but later on she started to ponder if some of the questions were maybe a bit weird.

Over the next few weeks she can’t help but think about the case and what happened to her. It then strikes her one day, how did he know the case was open again after almost 12months from the last victim. She ponders the files again looking for any clue, and thinks back to the previous victims who have recognized some sort of tattoo on the assailants forearm. Se looks over the files on her desk, her boss the lieutenant approaches her. “How’s that case going constable, any new leads or are you ready to put it back into storage?”

At first it seems like a push from her boss to work on another case, but as he turns to walk away she notices something on his left forearm, a tattoo. It gets her thinking again, that this is the only distinguishable marking reported, but they have no clear picture of what it is.

The months pass by, and the case goes cold again. No new leads or information. Her personal encounter never exposed to the department. Until one Saturday afternoon when a call gets forwarded to her desk phone.

“Hi this is constable Doyle, how can I help you”.

“Hi my name is Tammie and I would like to report a incident I had yesterday afternoon”.

At first she is thinking this is a random domestic violence report or something else.

Victim Testimony – I was out jogging yesterday afternoon when a stranger who appeared to also be jogging starting talking to me at a set of lights. At first I thought It was just general chit chat and I spoke to him briefly while I waited for the light to turn green. When I rounded my street corner I noticed that he was still jogging closely by. As I stopped at my house appeared to jog past me slowly as I stopped and stretched and then a few minutes later he returned. He stopped again and asked if I would like to have a coffee sometime. At first I thought it was very random but he seemed sincere about it. He was probably about 6 foot tall, clean shaven, medium build.  Not usually my type, but he persisted to ask again, I said how about we meet up for a run tomorrow.  He agrees and introduces himself as David. I say goodbye and turn to walk into my house and the next thing I know I’m waking up from a dazed sleep and find myself tied to a dinning room chair. my hands are tied behind the chair, my thighs are tied to the base of the chair, my right leg flat on the floor and tied to the leg of the chair and my left leg is straight out in front of me resting on a chair still wearing my sneaker and sock but its encased in some sort of orthopedic boot. At first I think maybe I fell and hid my head and injured my ankle or something but as I slowly wake from the daze I start to realize something is wrong. My mouth was covered with a rag so I was unable to scream. I Notice what appears to be a brief case on the floor next to me. He leans over me to get my attention, as I try to momentarily struggle to get free. “Please don’t struggle you will only cause your self more injuries”, he says to me. Next he reaches down to the boot on my left ankle and presses some sort of button and some lights come on. All I can see is a little light that says ON on the side of the boot that is lit up bright green. He leans over and shows me a remote in his hand. “ I’ll be able to take care of you soon”, he exclaims as he presses a button on the remote. The boot comes alive and I feel my foot moving into a position that my toes are pointed forwarded. After a few seconds my ankle starts to twist outwards, very slowly I feel the tension build up in my ankle. It continues to slowly move until if reaches=d some sort of resistance from my ankle and it stopped momentarily. Then a few seconds later it came back to life and started to twist my ankle outwards more, I felt a burning sensation on the inside of my ankle and then a small pop was heard and ten sharp instant pain radiated from my ankle. I struggled to get free but it was no use. My ankle started to immediately throb and ache like never before. The boot started to slowly move back to its original position. What happened next was the odd part he started to act genuinely like he wanted to take care of me. He wiped a tear from my cheek and fetched a tissue to clean my eyes. He took the boot off my ankle and gently rested my foot down. The time the boot was removed my ankle was the size of a softball. I thought my ankle was broken initially, but he slowly removed my shoe and sock and inspected it. The swelling was huge but he prodded, poked and tested my ankle just like the doctor did last time I sprained it. After about 5 minutes he looks at me and says “you have a eversion sprain of your ankle, which means the ligaments on the inside of your ankle have been stretched and partially torn similar to an inversion sprain which affects the lateral ligaments.” All this came across as he knew what he was talking about. Almost like a doctor or physiotherapist or something like that. He then scuffled through his bag and the next thing I know I awake and I’m laying on my sofa. My left ankle bandaged and secured in an air cast. An ice pack was resting on my ankle along with some crutches next to the sofa and a note. The note read “ I have left some anti-inflammatory in the kitchen take 2 tablets 3 times a day. Keep your ankle bandaged and in the air cast for at least 2 weeks. The crutches will help you to get around, regards David”.

End Testimony

Constable Doyle, asks a few more questions about distinguishing marks etc, but Tammie said he was wearing a long sleeve compression shirt and long compression pants so she didn’t see anything.

“Ok Thanks for the report Tammie, We have had similar cases in the past if I have any further questions ill will get in contact with you.”

As soon as she hung up the phone she pondered her thoughts again. Maybe this was some sort of medical professional was it just someone who can use the Internet.

She races into her lieutenants office again to report the latest update on the case. She felt that he was cold towards her, whether he was having a bad day or not he didn’t seem interested. The only comment he made was, “ did you put that case back in the store room months ago.” Constable Doyle responded that she was still looking at it until recently.

She raced back to her desk and started to run the new information through her head to see if she can link anything.

Another few weeks go by and nothing comes from the latest information. No further leads, Constable Doyle continues to look into it on a daily basis.

That Friday afternoon she returns home from going to the gym after work. She makes her way into her house and places her bag onto the kitchen bench. Out of the corner of her eye she sees something and as she is about to turn around a man grabs her from behind, she tussles with him briefly but blacks out a few seconds later.

She awakes to find herself tied to her dinning room chair again, although this time she has a boot on her left ankle. Her mouth is left free, she starts to scream and yell but it is futile as her neighbors are too far away to hear anything. The man enters the room, “your awake”.

She yells at him, “don’t do this you freak.”

He looks at her reaching over to her left foot and presses a button on the ankle brace fitted to her ankle.

“You didn’t learn your first lesson sarah, so I have to teach you another lesson and I have a special surprise this time.”

The first thing she notices is the boot is different to the last. It appears to have extra rails on the inside and outside of the ankle and extra motors. The assailant is wearing the same mask as last time with long sleeves and long pants.

He flashes this little remote at sarah, “I added a new button for you this time, number 4 is just for you.”

Sarah yells for help again and pleads that nothing he will do will stop her. She insists she will continue to hunt her down. She realizes her pleads for help are going un-herd. But continues to try and struggle free from her bindings.

“Lets see if you change your mind after number 4”, he lifts up the remote and presses the number 4.

The boot comes to life instantly, and starts to move her toes into foot into a pointed position. The boot slowly starts to move twisting her ankle outwards slowly. She feels her ankle getting tighter and feels pulling sensations on the inside of her ankle. The boot grinds to a holt maintaining pressure on the ligaments on the inside of her ankle. Then the boot starts to move again returning her foot to a neutral position with her toes pointed upwards. Moments later it comes to life again, this time the side rails start to move, her foot begins to be pulled forward like someone is tugging on the end of your foot. She can feel pressure on the inside and out side of her left ankle. AS the resistance builds the boot grinds to a halt again. Then it springs back to life, now slowly twisting her ankle inwards and at the same time gradually moving her foot into a pointed toe position. The boot continues to move slowly she feels pain building on the lateral ligaments in her left ankle. It continues to move until it’s met with resistance form the anterior ligament and grinds to a halt. It pauses for 5 seconds and then in one quick jerk it twists a little more and stops. A “pop” echoes of the floor as her anterior ligaments snaps. Sarah screams clenching onto the chair. The boot comes to life again, this time it starts to roll her ankle inwards as opposed to twisting it. The pain radiating from her ankle already is increasing. She feels pain start to build just below the anklebone, as the Calcaneo ligament is at its breaking point. The Boot stops again for 5 seconds, and then with one quick jerk it rolls her ankle in a little more. Another “POP” echoes off the floor. The boots stops holding this position. Sarah lets out another painful moan. “Please stop please”, Sarah pleads as a tear rolls down her cheek.

The man leans over to view the boot and looks back at Sarah, “ two ligaments are gone, not much left.”

she pleads again, but her attempts are futile. The boot springs back to life, and slowly returns her foot to a neutral position. The movement is agonizing, two completely torn ligaments in her left ankle.

He moves behind her and unties her right hand. She wipes a tear from her eye and composes her self. The man looks down at her and says, “ all you have to do is drop the case and press the number 4 button and it will be all over.” He hands her the remote.

She knows she is at his mercy but she throws the remote onto the ground hoping to break it, but it gingerly bounces of the floor and he picks it back up.

“ I gave you a chance Sarah.”

He lifts up the remote and presses the number 4 button one long press.

The boot comes back to life and slowly it positions her foot with her toes pointing forward. The boot is now feeling very tight on her ankle from the swelling. The movement of her ankle sends waves of intense pain up her leg. As the seconds go by she ponders what might happen next.

After 30 seconds a light buzzing nose starts to radiate from the boot, Then with one sharp movement the boot snaps inwards, twisting her ankle further than ever before. She screams again as her ankle lay at a 45-degree angle pointed inwards. Not sure if its broken or not she clenches the chair as the pain continues to build. The man starts to un-strap the boot from Sarah’s left foot, slowly splitting it in half before peeling it down and then he reaches under her leg and gently lifts her leg up. Her left foot stuck in this 45-degree angle inwards position absolutely throbbing.  He removes the boot resting her foot back down.

She starts to take deep breaths looking at her ankle and foot awkwardly positioned thinking the worst.  He looks over her ankle, and uses his finger to prod and poke a little.

“Yes, that’s worked nicely.”

Sarah feeling the pain starting to build a little more, wonder what is wrong with her ankle.

“He continues to loosen her shoe laces completely and loosen the shoe enough to get his finger inside her shoe and feels around the outside of her ankle. After a few seconds he looks up at Sarah, “ Your ankle is dislocated”.

Sarah, takes a few deep breaths. “Oh god, please can you help me, ill drop the case ill do what ever you want please.”

He starts to untie Sarah completely from the chair, after a few minutes she is completely free to move.  She tries to lift her left ankle up but the pain radiates with any movement.

He moves to her left foot on the chair, “ we need to remove your shoe and sock so I can reset your ankle.

She grasps the chair with her hands, “ok please”.

He gently lifts her leg up, pain waves radiate up her leg. He gently works the off her foot and then slowly removes the sock as well resting her foot back onto the chair. He beautiful exposed foot and ankle clearly showing the deformation and dislocation.  “We need to get you to the couch before we reset your ankle incase you pass out.”

Sarah nods, and agrees, just wanting her ankle to be reset as quickly as possible.

He helps her lower her left foot off the chair. She holds its up just off the ground as he helps her to stand on her right leg. She slowly starts to hop to the sofa every hop jerking her dislocated left ankle, sending more pain up her leg. The finally reach the sofa and he helps her to sit down and lifts her left foot onto the sofa and gently rests it down.  He heads to the kitchen and returns with a wooden spoon and gives it to her. “Put that in your mouth and bite down on it. “

Sarah bites down on the shaft of the wooden spoon. “Ok I need you to hold your lower leg with both hands as tightly as possible ok. “ She nods her head and grabs her lower leg he slowly lifts her ankle up and positions his hands, list right hand cupping her heel and his left hand grasping the arch of her foot. “You ready?” Sarah nods yes. He starts to pull her foot towards him, Sarah clenches on the wooden spoon, “arrrgghhhh”, he gradually pulls it a little further and further and then resets her dislocated ankle. Sarah drops the spoon from her mouth as the pain becomes too much and she faints gently falling back into the sofa. Sarah awakens a few minutes later and finds herself lying on the sofa. Her left ankle bandaged in two ace bandages going from just below her calf all the way to her toes. Her ankle is also in an air cast. A note is lying on the floor next to the sofa along with some boxes of pills, a bottle of water and another smaller ankle brace with laces. Crutches are also left leaning against the sofa within arms reach.

The note reads; Sarah, you left ankle was badly injured today, a double ligament rupture and a dislocation. You need to be non-weight bearing for minimum 6 weeks keeping it wrapped and in the air cast the whole time. After 6 weeks start some strengthening exercises and gradually weight bearing. I have provided you with another ankle brace that you will have to wear when participating in activities outside the home. Your ankle will most likely be chronically unstable and will require the brace for support. Hopefully we wont have to meet in the future, regards David.

The END