Two shots rang out in the night, a woman's scream of fear.

Victoria was crying in fear, a dark bruise on her face now, as she ran down the street in only a thin nightgown and robe, barefooted. It was almost one in the morning, and a man had broken into her new apartment and had attacked her, almost raped her until she'd grab the lamp on the nightstand.

The shots had been fired wildly at her in frustration, a desperate attempt to hit her as she ran as fast as she could.

She didn't stop for several blocks, her feet hurting from the rough surface and the objects on it.

And she only stopped because it was the first pay phone she found. Dialing the operator she panickly asked for the police station. Patching her though the front desk rang up.

"Please! You have to get Detective Stanton on the line, Adam Stanton! Please, I've just been attacked and I don't know if he's still after me or not!" She was in hysterics really, very near to just crying and curling up there on the street.

"Ma'am... I'm afraid I can't just put you through. I- Okay, hold on. I don't know if he's in or not though...."

Victoria was trembling as she stood there on hold, her eyes scanning about for any signs of Charlie... It had been him... She knew it... Who else could it be?

"Detective Stanton?" The receptionist said with a sigh as she reached Adam. "There's a young woman on the line demanding to speak with you. She seems to be in a bit panic. Would you like me to tell her that you're unavalible?"

Adam jerked upright, banging his head against the top of his desk and letting free a string of impressive curses. "Son of a fucking monkey--what?" he snarled into the phone as he grabbed it, tossing the folder he had been picking up into a drawer.

"What?" he snapped again, rubbing the back of his head to try and ease some of the ringing. He glanced over at the piles of papers still on his desk that he needed to wade through before the night was over. "If it's not about the Solinsky case, yes, ignore it," Adam ordered.

He dropped the phone back into its cradle, wondering vaguely what young woman would be demanding to see him. As far as he knew, both himself and Candy had been satisfied with how things had ended the other night... Or was it Mandy? Sandy?

Adam shrugged and bad-temperedly dragged a sheaf of paper towards him. Who knew being a cop entailed as much paperwork as being a secretary?

"Yes sir. Of course." The receptionist said as he hung up.

"Miss? I'm sorry. Detective Stanton is occupied at the moment. Was there anything else I could do for you?"

Occupied? No.. He... He had told her to call him if anything happened and something was happening now! "Please! Please you have to let me talk to him! There's someone after me! One of Jason's friends. He's trying to kill me! He broke into my apartment and tried to kill me!" She sobbed at last.

The receptionist was thinking it less of a ruse every moment. The woman did seem truly panicked... But he said to ignore it if it wasn't regarding the Solinsky Case.

"Ma'am... Can you tell me your name? If it is urgent, he might be able to take a moment."

A moment? Only if he wanted to? But it was her only hope....

Dialing to Adam's extension again the receptionist have a soft sigh. "I'm sorry sir, but the woman is in a terrible fright. She's saying a man broke into her apartment trying to rape and kill her. She mentioned an man named Jason, and says her name is Victoria Simmons. I told her I would mention her name to see if it rang any bells."

As the phone rang again, Adam swore as he was picking it up. "Goddammit," he began, before losing his steam as the dispatcher spoke. "Victoria what? Simmons? Look, I don't--" he started heatedly, before the name finally made the connection. "Oh. Her."

He sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Yeah, fine, put her on." Adam scrabbled to remember the details of the case... Wasn't she the domestic assault? That sounded right.

The phone clicked over. "Detective Stanton," Adam answered, trying to keep the edge out of his voice.

Victoria felt a wave of relief as she heard Adam's voice on the phone. Sure he didn't seem too happy, but neither was she. Nor was she in any real state to notice.

"Oh thank god! Oh god Detective, he's trying to kill me! Eric. He... He's one of Jason's friends! He broke into my apartment and he was trying to kill me! He shot at me detective! He was about to rape me! You have to help me, please. I don't know what to do. He could still be after me!" She said quickly in to the mouthpiece still looking around for any sign that he might be after her again.

"I got the restraining orders like you said... I did. But he came anyway!" Had he been able to follow her? Well even if he hadn't if she stayed in one place long enough he was bound to see her just standing here.

OOC: Eric? It was Charlie earlier. :lol:

"Ms. Simmons? Calm. Down." Adam spoke crisply, almost coldly. He hoped the snap in his voice would knock her back to reality, because it did neither of them any good to have her babbling in incoherent hysteria.

He took down notes in his rapid, sloppy hand, the name of her attacker and the time of night. Shots fired. "Tell me where you are. Are you hurt? Do I need to call an ambulance?"

((He has a couple friends :-P ))



His cold voice did snap her back but it also made her wonder if he was really believing her or if he would even try to help her. She gulped slightly and murmured. "I'm so scared Adam..." And she wasn't afraid to admit it.

"I... I uh... I'm on 4th and... Thurston." She said looking around for street signs and finding them across the intersection. "I dunno where I am, I just moved here and don't know the place too well." She said holding back a slight panic. "I... I'm okay... But he could find me soon. He'll kill me if he finds me. I don't know where to go or what I can do. You have to help me please."

Besides, he'd said that he'd make sure she was okay right? He said that she'd be safe until she faced the trial.

"Ms. Simmons, I'm calling for a squad car to pick you up," Adam said, scribbling down the street names she had given him on a piece of paper. "Until they get there, you need to stay where you are or else they won't be able to find you." He cupped a hand over the mouthpiece to get on the radio for any available unit and their ETA. He scowled at the reply, but kept the annoyance from his voice.

"The car should be there in at least ten minutes, maybe a little sooner. You just need to hang on. You're not hurt, you're not going to be, okay?" he asked, trying his best to be soothing. So not his strong point.

"A... A car? Uh.. Okay... How long will it be? I mean, when they get here?" She asked quickly on the phone.

But when he came back to her her jaw nearly dropped. "Ten... Ten minutes? I... I don't know. He... He might find me Adam. I mean I think I ran far enough but I don't know. I mean... What if he finds me? What if he sees me here before the officers get here?"

She bit her lip as he said that all she had to do was hold on. "Okay... I... I'll try to... I... I can find somewhere to hide maybe. So... So make sure that they don't just leave if they don't see me okay?"

Well, she wanted to hide not only because of Eric, but she was still in a night robe and barefooted. She would definitely stick out.

Adam wondered what he was supposed to say. He just wasn't good at this sort of thing. "Ma'am, that's the closest car available, I promise you," he tried, keeping his voice calm--almost detached. Doing his best to be comforting, he added, "Ten minutes... it won't be that long, alright? And I'm here and the other officers are coming, so you won't be alone."

Yeah, like a voice on a phone was going to be real helpful if some dude burst out at her. Adam figured that that wouldn't be the best thing to add, though, so he left it out.

"Okay, you try to hide. Just try and stay fairly close to the phone, okay?"

"Okay." She said nodding more for her own sake. "I'll wait then. I'll be close though." She said. She wanted to see him. Wanted to know she would be okay...

"Thank you Adam..." She murmured before saying goodbye and hanging up.

Victoria moved into the alley, hiding behind the dumpster. There was someone coming as she hung up, but she didn't know who it was. Was it Eric? She didn't know. But she hurried, hiding behind the dumpster, waiting for the person to walk by.

It was a younger man though, a college student laden with books. Not Eric... But she was still terrified.

Adam hung up the phone, then sighed and stared at the sheaf of papers flung out over his desk. He needed an office maid to keep the damn thing neat. His thoughts circled back to the Solinsky case and he scowled. Didn't look like he'd have the time to finish that now, which meant it would have to wait at least another day, which meant his lieutenant was going to bitch at him.

His eyes flicked to a framed newspaper clipping on the corner of his desk, an old article detailing his winning the Butkus Award for best linebacker in the nation in his junior year. He'd been a fucking star. Could'a been drafted in the first round. Could'a had a ring by now, maybe even a cushy retirement job as a commentator. Instead he was reduced to listening to his fat-ass, burnt-out lieutenant chewing him out for the sake of some idiot chick who didn't have the sense to beat it when her boyfriend decided to beat her.

Adam turned away from the article and dug through his messy desk for the paperwork on the Simmons chick.

It was about twenty minutes later that Victoria, clad in only her night robe and a night gown was escorted into the building, lead to Adam's room.

"We've brought Miss Simmons as you've requested detective." The officer said before leaving. Victoria stood there awkwardly, shaking slightly. But she was safe now... She was trying to calm herself, but it wasn't working. They knew what was going on.

"I'm sorry... I was just so scared... I didn't know what to do Detective. I did everything you told me to, and he still found me." She murmured softly, biting at her lower lip out of nerves. She felt like a food standing here. She should have taken care of it on her own. She had told herself and convinced herself she could handle it, but when the time came, she'd been just as frightened as before.

"I need your help..."

"Yeah, thanks," Adam told the uniform distractedly, still scanning the file on the woman. "Sit," he gestured towards one of the creaky, uncomfortable wooden chairs bolted to the floor in front of his desk. After a rather violent incident where a ninety-pound kid high out of his mind on PCP had broken a chair over one of the uniform's heads, the Chief had decided that it might be best if the chairs were chained down. Made getting new furniture a bitch.

Adam glanced at Victoria, his dark green eyes slightly distracted as he replied, "You did the right thing." He sounded flat instead of comforting, but it was a try, at least. "Now, you said over the phone that it was a man named... Charlie, if I'm right? Not your ex, um, Jared?"

Sitting down on the stiff chair she wasn't any more comfortable than standing awkwardly.

"Jason..." She corrected in a murmur. "He can't bother me himself. He's still in Jail. I thought Charlie would be the one after me. He was Jason's second kind of. But I guess Eric found me first. I don't know how. I changed jobs, I moved almost five miles away in this big city, I got the restraining orders and everything. They knew I had them and... And then I disappeared. I didn't think they would ever find me, but he did."

She was trying to keep the fear out of her voice, but it was hard, thinking about how she'd been found so quickly and that he did indeed want to kill her.

Despite the tear streaks on her face, Victoria was actually in far better condition then when he'd seen her the last time. She had a bit more color, and though she was still thin, she wasn't sick or frail looking anymore. The bruises had faded and the cuts had healed.

"I don't know what to do though. You... You said that they wouldn't hurt me. He almost killed me. If... If I hadn't kicked him, he would have just shot me." She'd tried to grab the gun from him but he'd grabbed her hair and pulled her off. "Please, there has to be something you can do.... A... A safe house or something?"

Adam squinted at the scribbled notes. "Jason, right. In jail, right." He rubbed his eyes wearily. Pretty soon he'd be needing reading glasses like old Morley... But no way would he get horn rims. Talk about goofy. Adam glanced at the ancient detective stooped in his prime desk in the corner. 'Bout as private as it got, which was one of the perks when you'd been on the force since the last Ice Age. Seriously, Morley needed to just retire already, instead of sitting over there coughing all the time and reading papers with his nose an inch away from the sheet.

Adam studied the booking picture of the ex and then glanced at Victoria, who was probably pretty hot when she didn't have bags big enough to pack bedsheets in under her eyes and tearstains on her face. How the hell had Jason the ex ended up with her?

He rubbed his eyes again. "We've been going over your ex's finances. Were you aware that he had nearly a hundred and fifty thousand stashed away under a false name?"

OOC: If you don't like that last part, I'll change it. I thought it fit with him being a dealer and all.

"His finances?" She couldn't help the confusion in her voice. "What are you talking about? He didn't work, he didn't make any money what so-"A hundred and fifty thousand?!

"That's impossible. How could he have that kind of money? All he ever did was get high and drunk with his friends." She asked furiously. If he had money like that, how come he had never once paid a single damn bill? How come he borrowed money off of her?!

Victoria shook her head, an obvious no to his last question. "I had no clue. Otherwise I would have told him to pay the damn bills himself." She said stiffly.

"How did he get that kind of money?" She asked. But of course there was only one answer that really fit into that question. He did nothing. He had different friends over all the time... "Are you saying he was dealing the drugs in my apartment as well?" She asked, barely containing her anger.