Detective Jamie Bell has a problem; after she was forced to kill a madman during a shootout in a crowded bar she starts seeing things that aren't there, namely a message, written everywhere she looks-even in her dreams. The message says, "Stop Raping Sally." But who is Sally? And why can't anyone else see the message? The more Jamie learns about the man she killed, the more she thinks he might have something to do with the elusive "Sally." According to his girlfriend, the madman kidnapped and sold a young girl just days before the shooting. Could this young girl be Sally? Another important question: is Jamie losing her mind? What other explanation could there be for the signs she sees, awake and asleep? Maybe being a detective is too much for novice Jamie Bell. Maybe she's not cut out for this line of work. Or maybe she's just the person to find Sally and save her life. Could the shooter be the one responsible for Sally's abuse? If so, how will Jamie find the young girl, now that her abductor is dead? Jamie may be a girl's only hope . . . if only she can face her own fears and take the law into her own hands.

Stop Raping Sally

By Jim Ivy

iUniverse, Inc.

Copyright © 2011 Jim Ivy
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4620-4592-1

Chapter One

It was Friday, 10:35 p.m. as Maggie had dropped her daughter off at mother's night out a new program at her church designed for young couples or young mothers to have a social life. Once a month, the hours were from seven till midnight. She only had about an hour and a half to find her sister, who never missed ladies night at the caravan nightclub. Maggie had been trying desperately to reach her sister for the past hour, as Maggie walked hurriedly into the nightclub. Searching through the crowd immediately she spotted her sister standing at the bar talking with a distinguished looking older man with a beer in his hand. Maggie's sister was named Andrea walking up behind her. Maggie touched her on the shoulder and Andrea turned around, spilling her drink. She shouted, hey sister, what are you doing here? She then hugged Maggie. With a worried look of desperation and tears welling up inside before Maggie could utter a word. Suddenly, a man—six foot two, scruffy-looking, and wearing a trench coat—burst into the bar, shouting, "Maggie Jackson!" at the top of his voice.

A handsome woman turned around.

The disturbed man glared at Maggie. Then he pulled an Uzi out from under his coat and opened fire in the vicinity of the woman, hitting her several times. People ran everywhere. When the clip was empty, the deranged man started to reload.

Suddenly an off-duty police officer dove under a pool table, pulled her weapon, and emptied her gun into the man. The shooter fell like a sack of potatoes.

The officer climbed out from under the pool table. Very shaken over what had just happened, she nevertheless took charge of the situation, holding her badge up high so everyone could see and shouting, "I am Officer Jamie Bell. Now everybody remain calm!"

About five foot eight, Jamie was twenty-eight years old, had long brown hair and blue eyes, and was standing at her full height when she reached for her radio. Jamie radioed, "Officer needs assistance and ambulance at The Caravan night club. The address is 1215 South Peoria Ave. We have multiple victims," she concluded, her voice starting to quiver.

Jamie started to assess how many people had been hit by the madman's gunfire. Counting as many as nine people hit, she tried to arrange the victims and perform whatever triage she could to communicate to the emergency responders a full report and direct them to the most severe injuries when they arrived. Two bartenders and four waitresses tried to help her.

When the police arrived, Captain Richard Jackson yelled out asking what had happened! The captain stood tall at six foot three. Thirty-eight years old, well built, and very handsome, he carried himself with tremendous confidence and authority.

The young policewomen stood up from helping some of the wounded. She told him what had happened and how she'd handled the situation. The crowd cheered for her, and several of the patrons came to the captain and praised the young woman for her heroism.

The captain asked, "What is your name, officer?"

She said, "Jamie, Captain, Officer Jamie Bell."

Another officer yelled across the room, "Captain, get over here!" The officer was holding the hand of a woman as she lay on the floor. She was critically wounded.

The captain came over and saw the woman in blood-soaked clothing. She looked as if she was barely alive.

The captain shouted, "Maggie," and knelt by her side. He lifted her head up and brushed the hair out of her face.

"She's his wife," the other officer whispered.

The woman opened her eyes and looked at her husband. Maggie tried to speak, gasping for air. Her husband whispered into her ear. She reached for him, poking him in the eye. He pulled back and then wiped his eyes.

A moment later, she was gone, and a few of the police officers tried to console the captain. He appeared to be very distraught, and Jamie felt shaken as she stood and watched her police captain grieve for his wife. Watching his wife die made Jamie sick to her stomach. She quickly ran to the bathroom and vomited in a trashcan.

Three other women had died also; one of the victims was Maggie's sister.

The captain stood up and instructed the officers, "Get all the statements from the witnesses and report back to me."

After the captain had left the bar, the other officers worked the room, interviewing everyone they could, including Jamie.

After about an hour, Jamie asked if she could go home. The officers told her to go home and report back in the morning. Sitting inside her car in the parking lot, the emotion of the night had finally gotten to Jamie as she sobbed uncontrollably into her folded arms on her steering wheel. That was the first time she had ever fired her weapon at anyone, much less killed someone.

She started her car and headed home. Three blocks from her house, she stopped at a stop sign. Glancing over at the sign, she noticed something written on it that she couldn't quite make out. She pulled closer. "Stop Raping Sally," the words said. How awful, she thought. Who would write something like that? Words had been scrawled over the next sign as well. "You can stop him," the sign proclaimed.

Jamie drove to the last stop sign she'd reach before arriving at home. Just like on the other signs, a hand-painted message with each letter running sickly down the sign said, "Stop and listen." She was really puzzled. She felt like it was some sort of message, but to whom?

As she drove into her driveway, she kept thinking about the stop signs. They really bothered her. She tried to put them out of her mind. She felt like she needed to talk to someone. Jamie's mother had passed away when she was eleven years old; though she'd had a falling out with her father several years ago, he'd recently reached out to her. A month ago, Jamie's brother was an Olympic champion wrestler; the two of them had never been very close.

So for the first time in a long time, she called her father. The phone rang four times before Jamie's father answered. From his voice, it was clear that he had just woken up; it was 1:30 in the morning after all.

"Dad, it's me. I needed to talk to someone," Jamie said, her lips quivering. When she added, "I killed a man tonight," she started to cry.

Her father tried to console her, although sympathy was never one of his best traits. He was always very tough on both of his children, especially Jamie's brother. He tried to convince Jamie to move back home. She could be a policewoman there in her hometown.

Jamie answered like she always did—she had told him when she left that she wanted to make it without being under her brother's shadow. She wanted no favoritism. She wanted to do it on her own.

"I know," her dad said, "but you're five hundred miles away. Are you ever going to move back home?"

"Someday I will," Jamie answered, "but not until I've made it here as a detective. That's what I want."

They talked a few minutes more. Jamie told him what had happened and why she was so upset. He gave her his standard speech about being tough, telling her to either suck it up or quit! Jamie thought that was exactly what she wanted to hear, somewhere in the back of her mind. Jamie was quite aware that the speech was exactly why she had called her father. Jamie knew that they would both say, "I love you" before hanging up and that she would call him later next week.

Jamie went into her...