The Cruise Marshal (standard:mystery, 1000 words)
Author: Alex Hayes	Added: Aug 28 2006	Views/Reads: 3539/0	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
This is a job beyond superman statis.

The Cruise Marshal 

Jack Moss awoke to the sound of a siren breaking the calm of the pre
dawn, just as his cell phone rang.  The voice of his boss Larry sounded 
urgent and very apologetic for the early hour.  Jack managed a quick 
hello and listened to Larry briefly explain why he had to report back 
to work as soon as possible for a new training course at company 
headquarters. The new assignment will change his title and duties from 
Senior Air Marshal to Cruise Marshal. 

Jack agreed to the meeting even though it was his last day of vacation.
He dressed, did coffee, scanned the e-mail and left the condo in about 
thirty minutes. Jack arrived at the underground parking lot about five 
AM and noticed how very quiet the area was as he navigated to his 
space. Jack quickly noticed his boss running up to the car with urgency 
written all over his face. Larry got into the vehicle and hastily 
explained that he needed to drive across town and meet with the Cruise 
Marshal Instructor for the advanced training course covering this newly 
created service. 

Jack tried to explain to Larry that he had reservations about this
position, especially since the area of responsibility aboard a ship was 
vastly different from that of an airplane. Larry assured Jack that with 
his completion of this advanced training course that his 
self-confidence would be very much improved and that he would be a 
great asset to his country and the company. The two months of training 
was intense and Jack passed the course ready for work in his new 
position. 

Jack received his first assignment on the cruise ship Glorious Adventure
where he met with the ship’s captain while being shown to his 
stateroom/office, and then he checked in with the ship’s security 
officer and personnel. Jack reported back to Larry at company 
headquarters and thanked him for the security equipment that he had 
installed in his office. Jack would be working undercover with the 
ship’s security team on this floating city during the three weeks South 
Seas cruise, doing active personal surveillance and monitoring a 
console of video cameras viewing every public place aboard the ship. 

The job was going along fairly good until the third morning at sea when
Jack was notified that a maid had found a body in a stateroom on deck 
three. The security team immediately began viewing video files for deck 
three, while Jack started his job of processing the scene. The body of 
a male, approximately thirty five years of age was lying nude on the 
bed with his hands glued together in prayer and a note attached to his 
genitals saying "Please Forgive Me", got Jacks attention immediately.  
The body revealed red marks on the chest and a bruised needle puncture 
in the throat. 

Jack gathered the ship’s captain and the medical personnel together and
told them his theory about what took place in this room. Someone was 
allowed to enter the room, immobilize the victim with a Taser gun and 
then inject something lethal, causing death. The victim was stripped of 
clothing and the hands were glued together in prayer position with a 
note saying, "Please Forgive Me" attached to the genitals. This was a 
very strange motis operandi and Jack would be checking into the company 
global database for any similar crime. 

The company information came back negative on this motis operandi, but
Jacks instincts were telling him that the perpetrator might be a 
female. The captain contacted Jack concerning the discovery of two more 
male victims in the identical condition. Jack phoned Larry at company 
headquarters and discussed the events suggesting that there is strong 
evidence of a serial killer aboard the ship. Jack was instructed to 
have the captain dock at the nearest port. A forensic team would be 
dispatched and arrive as soon as possible. 

Jack decided to do a full background check on the medical staff just
because his instinct made him feel that it was a good idea to clear 
these people of any wrong doing. The reply to his inquiry was good 
except his eye caught a sealed file flagged on the nurse.  He decided 
to talk with Nurse Helen, a very beautiful blonde who appeared to be in 
her middle twenties, about this file and see where it might lead him.  
Helen agreed to meet in her room to discuss the tragic situations. Upon 
Jacks arrival he could feel tenseness in her manners as he questioned 
her about the sealed file from her youth. She did not want to talk 
about it, since it was a very sensitive situation.  He decided to push 
the conversation in another direction and ask her if she could explain 
why a women looking like her appears on the security tapes entering and 
leaving all of the victim’s rooms at the times of the murders. The 
pressure of this evidence got to her very quickly and Helen told Jack 
that the sealed file from her youth contained documents about the rape 
case she was involved in during her college years. The situation 
happened while she was walking back to her dorm room, and that these 
three men looked like the ones who attacked and raped her. 

Since that day she had mentally devised a plan for revenge towards these
three cruel men that if anyone of them ever appeared in her life again 
she would take her revenge. Helen explained that she gained entrance 
with a smile and charm, and once the door closed she used the Taser gun 
and then injected air into the bloodstream. The hands glued together in 
prayer along with the note-handwritten saying, "Please Forgive Me" were 
meant for her forgiveness of doing this act of revenge. The plan worked 
well except that she got in a hurry and forgot about the security 
cameras, and that being said, Helen excused herself to use the bathroom 
and then used a lethal injection. 

End 


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