Mission in Life Part II

"Dr. Lorrie's office. How may I help you?" said the voice at the other end of the line.

"This is Dr. Lorrie. I called to let you know I'm leaving the hospital and need to roll my phone."

"Okay. Thank you Dr. Lorrie, your answering service is now on," replied the operator.

Lorrie's cell phone was ringing as she got into her car. "Oh hi, Mom. How are you doing?" Not wanting to talk on the cell while driving through rush hour traffic, she makes the call brief and promised to call her mom later in the evening.

The doctor dropped her briefcase and pocketbook on the kitchen chair as she came in the door. She kicked off her shoes, headed for her bedroom to undress, looking forward to a nice cool shower after a long, hectic day. Refreshed, she put on her robe and went back to the kitchen for her briefcase. Perhaps a little extra planning would make tomorrow somewhat easier. And, for now, a fragrant cup of hot tea would make the evening a little nicer. The teakettle whistled and the doctor hurried to silence the annoying little pot.

Dr. Lorrie sipped her tea and delighted in the heavenly scent of the herbal concoction. She tried to concentrate only on unwinding, before reviewing her notes from the day's activities.

Suddenly, her train of thought was broken by a noise from behind her. She listened intently, hardly breathing. After a minute of silence, she went back to her notes. Again, a thump coming from the hallway area. She jumped up only see shadow move across the floor. She was not alone. There was someone in her house. Petrified, she got up from her chair to try to escape. She turned to look over her shoulder, and the perpetrator, a masked man wielding a large knife, confronted her. Her heart pounded and she could barely breathe.

"Oh, my God ... please," she whispered. The lump in her throat prevented her from screaming. As she bolted for the door, he grabbed her. His hand felt like a vise grip around her neck and cut off her air supply, but she struggled to get the weapon from him. Her hands were shredded in the attempt, and he pulled her towards him. With one slow stroke of the knife, he slit her throat; her heart pumped the blood out of her body with each beat. The doctor made a last attempt to unveil her executioner and grabbed at his ski mask. He was covered with her blood from head to toe.

Angered by her stamina and will to live, the perpetrator stabbed her in the neck and chest several times, and let her body drop to the floor. Where her last ounce of strength came from, no one will ever know. Her instincts still told her to try to get out. Choking on the blood that was spewing from her throat and blinded by the looming loss of consciousness, the doctor tried crawling towards the door. He grabbed her from the floor and threw her on the coffee table, breaking the glass top. He was determined to knock the life out of her. Her agony was not yet over. The enraged man picked up her bloody body and threw her back onto the floor. He tore off her robe and raped her repeatedly, relishing in her bloodied and broken frame. Only God knows why life still flowed through Dr. Lorrie's body. She gurgled and choked again and again in an attempt to plead for her life. Finally, he plunged knife into her chest one last time. She felt nothing. Her body was numb, but the pressure of the thrust told her it was finally over. The room got dark. Lorrie's last thought fell on her mom. "Mama." she whimpered; then whimpered no more.

A few days went by. An anonymous call had come in to the local police department complaining about an strange odor coming from the house on Harbor Street. The caller had also stated that the owner's car had not moved for several days. Detective Dan Casey arrived at the scene. He radioed headquarters to inform them of his whereabouts and to verify the pungent odor permeating the air around the house. He knocked on the door and waited for a response. He went around to the back door, but no one answered there, either. All of the doors were locked, so Dan radioed for backup units. There was probable cause to enter the house without the owner's permission.

While the detective was waiting for the reinforcements to show up, he knocked on several of the neighbors' doors. None had any information to give. They only knew that something smelled awful and the owner's car had not moved for days.

The additional police units arrived and they broke in through the front door. They entered the dark house and used their flashlights to search for a light switch. When they turned on the light, the officers groaned in horror. The scene of blood splattered from ceiling to floor sickened them. They found the body, perforated from knife wounds, laying face down in a pool of blood and body fluids on the living room floor. Maggots and flies were feasting on the remains, and the stench was indescribable.

"Be extremely careful where you walk and what you touch!" ordered Detective Casey. I want every piece of evidence you can scrape up. A heinous crime has been committed here, and I want the monster who did this."