Patrick had hired a car and was parked on the road where Ray and Darren lived quite early the next morning and saw Ray come out of the house to go off to work. He was dismayed to follow and find that he turned into the local council yard and knew then that he was following the wrong person and so quickly returned to the house but was too late, for Darren had already left to meet Judy at the newspaper offices.
Good morning,' Darren greeted Judy and she replied with the same words. Shouldn't you really be at work?' he asked.
I phoned in sick this morning,' she replied. Now where are we going?' He showed her the name and address of the woman they were going to visit. `Kathleen Potter. Well it's definitely a woman, and in Brixton. Well it's not far from here.'
So off they went and it wasn't long before they were in a small cul-de-sac where she lived. She was a small woman of about thirty odd years old and was definitely pregnant, and flinched when she saw that Judy was in uniform but still let them both in and offered them tea or coffee. They both accepted tea and sat down in the kitchen of the house and introductions were made.
You know why I'm here Kathleen. Oh, may I call you Kathleen?' To which she nodded. Now I saw that you were a little alarmed at seeing Judy here in police uniform. Do not be alarmed for we believe you both have something in common, and that is somehow meeting up with this man that we call The Shadow. Now can you show me the photo?' Being prepared for the visit, she had it ready and passed it over to Darren who, seeing that it was indeed of The Shadow, turned it over and saw the number forty one on the back. He passed it over to Judy who did the same at looking at it.
`The same as mine but mine has the number forty four on the back,' Judy said, passing it back.
`Can you tell me when you found it?' Darren asked.
`And was it in your lingerie drawer?' Judy asked.
Yes,' Kathleen said in a low voice. It was in my drawer and I found it. Oh, about four months ago. How it got there, I've no idea.'
`Are you married?' Darren asked.
`No. I've been widowed about two years now,' she replied.
Tell me,' Judy began in a soft voice. Did you know the man who got you pregnant? I ask this because I too am pregnant and do not recall having a man at the time that I conceived, also finding one of these photos.'
No. I...I haven't known a man since my husband died,' and started to cry which made Judy get up and put her arm around the shoulders of the sobbing Kathleen. When...when I found out that I was...was pregnant, I almost went mad with worry that I couldn't remember at having a man,' she sobbed. `Then...then I found the photo and felt disgusted and unclean.'
`Me too,' said Judy, soothing the woman until she stopped crying and wiped her eyes, Darren waiting until she was composed before asking about her cheque book.
`Did you also find out that you have passed over a cheque but have no recollection of doing so?' he asked.
Yes,' she whispered, and that didn't help me in my worrying as it was for four hundred pounds and it left me rather short of money.
`Can I see the book?' Darren asked and she nodded and went and got it and passed it over for him to flip through to find that the stub just said donation. No date or amount filled in. Judy made a note of the dated stub's before and after the donated one.
`Keep both of these things safe Kathleen, for we are going to find this man, and will need them as evidence.'
`In court! I couldn't! I'd be too ashamed,' she burst out.
`No Kathleen. You won't be called, for I will be the one in court but we will only need the picture and cheque book to add to the others to bring this man to justice,' Judy said, soothing her down, and with the promise that she wouldn't have to appear and that she should keep them safe, they left.
Well that's another one then,' said Judy when they were outside. Who next?'
`An S. Farmer. I don't know if it's a male or female, but we'll soon find out for they too live here in Brixton,' he replied, and so off they went to meet this second one. It didn't take long to be at a block of flats and found that it was on the fourth floor and wasn't really surprised to find that it was a female who answered the door.
`Police?' was the first words spoken by the flat owner.
No, no,' said Darren showing his press card. My name's Darren Smith. We've sent e-mails to each other over this photo of a shadowed man. Miss Sharpe is just along to help me in searching for this man. Can we come inside and talk please.'
`Oh, oh yes. Sorry, I wasn't expecting to see a police officer too,' she replied, opening the door for them to enter. Which they did and went through the short hall and into the sitting room where a young child was playing with some bricks on the carpet. They were asked to sit down and offered a drink which they declined.
`What a lovely child,' Judy said, to try and set the woman at ease. Boy or a girl?'
`Boy and his name is Henry,' the woman replied.
`How old?' Judy asked.
`A year and three months,' was the answer. Darren quickly worked this out and asked his first question.
`So it was about two years ago when you found this photo of a man's shadow?'
Yes,' she said, with a look of surprise on her face. How did you know?'
`Well quite a few of these have been found...'
`In the lingerie drawer,' Judy butted in with.
`Yes. It was. How did you know?' was the question.
Well that's where all the others have been found,' Darren said. What is the number on the back? Nineteen, twenty, twenty one?'
I don't know,' she said, getting up and going over to a desk that had a computer on the top. She opened the drawer and pulled out the photo and looked at the back. Twenty,' she said, passing it over to Darren who briefly looked at both front and back, giving a grin at Judy at having guessed the number fairly accurately as he showed it to her.
They then went into the details of her cheque book and gave her the same assurances that they had given to Kathleen Potter before thanking her and leaving.
Another unmarried mother,' Judy said rather bitterly. Now I really want to find the bastard,' she said rather heatedly.
We will Judy, we will,' Darren said. Now let's visit the next one in Clapham.'
`Again the question. Male or female?' she asked.
`Same answer. I don't know with it being a J. Knowles, so let's go and find out.' They took a taxi to drop them off at quite a big house just off the Common. They went up the steps and saw that there were four bell pushes and each had a small card insert alongside and one that held two names. J. Knowles and T. Wells. This was the one pushed and a minute later a voice came out of the squawk box above the buttons.
`Yes?' came the male voice.
`It's Darren Smith from the paper. We traded e-mails,' he answered to the box.
`Come on up, first floor,' the voice said as there came a buzzing noise and the door came ajar. Darren pushed the door open and invited Judy to enter first and they went up the stairs to find a door open and a man waiting for them.
`Are you Mr. Knowles or Mr. Wells?' Darren asked, shaking the offered hand.
`Knowles. Julian Knowles,' he replied.
`Nice to meet you. My name is Darren Smith and this is Miss Judy Sharpe, who I might add, is not here in an official capacity but more as an assistant to me in this quest,' he said as Judy and Julian shook hands, giving Darren a sideways look which he couldn't read but soon found out as they went inside.
`He's gay,' she whispered to him and got a nod back in reply. They were shown into a nice and comfortable lounge where they were invited to sit down.
`This is a nice place you have Mr Knowles,' Judy said as she sat down.
Julian, please. Call me Julian, er, Judy,' he said with a smile, showing perfectly white teeth. Would you care for a drink?' he asked, waving a nicely manicure hand towards a drinks trolley.
`It's a bit early but I'd like a gin and tonic please,' said Darren.
I'll have the same,' said Judy. I'm not on duty,' to which, Julian smiled and went and poured out three drinks. `What do you do?' Judy asked as she took her glass, blushing slightly at the possible innuendo she had uttered and had been picked up immediately by Julian, for he smiled back.
As to what I do Judy, is that I'm an interior designer which helps pay for this pad,' he said with a knowing smile. Now how can I help you in regards to this picture of a naked man's shadow?' he asked, now looking at Darren.
`Well I'm after this rapist...' he began.
`Rapist? Oooh, how delicious,' Julian said in his interrupting, now looking at Judy as he smiled and licked his lips. This really made her blush now at his revealing that he was indeed a homosexual in this remark.
Yes,' Darren said. He has gotten many women pregnant but not the males that he has seduced,' himself now smiling at the way that Julian had revealed himself to Judy. `We don't know the exact numbers of either sex yet that he has performed this illegal act, but we have reached up to number forty four. Can I see the photograph that you found?'
`Certainly,' he replied and went and got it and passed it over.
Number nineteen,' Darren said as he looked at the back. That puts it about just over two years ago that you found it. Was it in a drawer of underwear?'
Yes, it was,' Julian replied with a look of surprise on his face. It was under my sto...er, underwear as you rightly surmised,' he got out with a stutter, him now looking rather flushed in the face at his almost admittance that he wore female underwear.
They then turned to the matter of his cheque book and found that he'd lost nine hundred pounds from his account to which he had no recollection of signing such a cheque. He no longer had the book but was sure that his bank could give them the exact date that it was cashed. With having all the details now written down, they said their goodbyes and thanks and at the handshake, Darren got the message through this that he would be most welcome to call again, which now made him blush for Julian had also picked up the vibes that Darren too was like him in being a homosexual.
They opted to walk across the common until they could get a taxi on the main road on the other side.
Now that's eight confirmed pictures of this rapist,' Darren said as they walked. The editor has said that with more replies to my first piece about the Shadow, I can have half a column in tomorrow's paper. Boy, I can really slag him off with what I intend to put into print. I'll try and make him mad enough to have a go at me, and then we shall see.'
Darren, you can't!' Judy exclaimed. We know now that he rapes men as well as women. You can't let him get at you. He'll find out with your name being there and he'll come after you, don't you see this?'
`Yes, I know, but I can handle that side of it,' he said, not realising just exactly what he had implied by those words.
Darren! Do you know that you've just, well, almost said that...that you are a ...a homosexual too, like Julian?' she said, stopping and turning him round to face her. Are you gay?'
Yes, and not ashamed to admit it to a woman,' he replied. Why?'
Well, I...I, well I had thoughts about my situation and that...that I've taken a fancy to you,' she stuttered and her face went a bit on the crimson side, and that if...if Dennis dumped me because of me getting pregnant by this shadow, we ...we could have been an item, but now, well, oh, I just don't know,' she said, tears coming to her eyes that tore at the heart strings of Darren who then pulled her into his arms.
`Judy, Judy. If I was a straight man, I would accept you like a shot, but..., with you now knowing what I really am...,' and he let it trail off. She then dropped her eyes from his before she spoke again.
But if you were bi-sexual, you...you wouldn't mind coming home with me?' she asked in a low voice. A slice is never missed off a cut loaf,' she said in almost a whisper.
He realised that he did indeed fancy Judy and here it was now being offered to him and he found that he was getting hard inside his trousers as he held her in his arms. He tilted her head up and leaned in and kissed her. It wasn't what you would call a passionate kiss but one that was of a loving kind, firm and yet gentle.
You do me an honour Judy,' he said softly, and it is an offer that I cannot refuse,' and it was her that kissed him this time, but with more of an urgency that she did so. Then arm in arm, they finished crossing the common and soon hailed a taxi that took them to her place where when inside, kissed again before she led him through to her bedroom where they kissed again as they took each other's clothes off.
There was a shyness with the both of them as they looked at each other's naked body, her with firm and not over large breasts, a trim waist and a patch of trimmed pubic hair. Whereas he had his erection sticking out from his pubics that then got squashed between them as they kissed once again before falling onto the bed.
It had been years since he had last had a woman and he found it nice to once again have the soft body of one underneath him as he lay on top as they kissed. Her legs opened up for his lower body and legs to slip down in between them and found, through the head of his erection, that she was quite wet and ready to have sex.
He raised himself up onto his elbows and looked into her shining eyes as he moved his lower body up and felt him start to penetrate her. It was hot and warm and his cock slid in with ease and brought a moan to Judy as he fully entered her as their stomachs met and he gave out a groan having forgotten how nice it was to once again be on the inside of a female, one that wanted his prick to massage her insides and hopefully bring her to an orgasm. This he was able to do, for after fucking the tight canal of a backside, he'd learned how to hold himself back in an orifice that wasn't as tight. Though her felt all her inside muscles clenching and squeezing him, they were not as strong as that of a backside.
With his steady in and out movements, he was able to excite her, especially when he pulled right out to rub the head of his cock up against her clitoris before plunging back inside, he soon brought her up to the ultimate pleasure for a woman. She gave out a loud cry as her orgasm began, her legs high and crossed over his back as she began to buck herself underneath him. Her fingers were digging into his back and he hoped as he held himself in there, that she wasn't drawing blood from his shoulders which would be hard to hide from Ray.
Her body movements as she was in the throes of her orgasm, made him come at the same time, getting both the release and pleasure of once again fucking a woman. His groans mixed with her cries as they both came with him trying to stay inside her and she trying to get more of him into where his cock was now throbbing and pulsating away as he shot his load in short staccato bursts. At least he knew that he wasn't getting her pregnant for she was already in the club.
His arms ached and he slowly lowered his upper body down onto hers and felt himself squashing her breasts and felt the sweat that they'd both generated between them, acting like an oil that made him slide about between them.
Oh Darren,' she breathed out as he looked down at her shining face, that was just wonderful and just what I needed,' and he could feel her inside muscles still flexing themselves around his shaft that was still up and hard. He grinned at her and made his cock twitch inside.
It was that,' he said, still a little out of breath himself. It's been a long time since I've laid with another woman.'
`Will you tell...your partner that we've made love to each other?' she asked.
Good God no!' he said. Ray would go into a sulk that could last for days. No, least said, least mended.'
`But I'm worried now about what you're going to write in your column about The Shadow. Do you think he will really come after you?'
`I think that his ego would demand it, you know, cocking a snoot at my attempts to get him out into the open. If he's already had over forty odd people, both male and female, one more isn't going to make much difference to him. It will be another conquest for him as it were, by attacking me.'
`Well be careful. I mean it. It hasn't been found yet if he's violent or not, but you never know,' she said, a worrying look on her face.
`If it happens and he uses hypnotism as I'm sure it is his means of getting what he wants, I won't know the difference then, would I?'
`If it is hypnotism that he uses, you won't know if you sign over to him a cheque now would you?'
`No, you're right. So what can I do about that,' he mused.
Leave yourself a memo or something. Something that you will see every morning to prompt you to check your cheques,' and gave out a giggle at the two words sounding the same. Like...like something on your shaving mirror. You do shave every morning don't you?'
Yes, yes,' he mused. Something like CCB written on the mirror.'
`CCB?'
Check cheque book,' he grinned. That would be the reminder.'
`Yes, yes. Then if you find that you've used a cheque we could inform the bank straight away and at least get a picture of him from their CCTV and his fingerprints off the cheque.'
Yes, you're right sweetie. Then I'd better be getting off to the bank now,' he said as he felt his cock had subsided enough for it to start slipping out of the warm cave that it had been residing in for the last few minutes. As much as I like where I am now, I'd better go before they close and set things up before I go to the office and do my article for it to be in tomorrow's paper.'
So with another kiss on the lips of Judy, he eased himself back and felt himself slide fully out to her cry of dismay at losing that cock of his from where it had felt quite comfortable.
She lay like a wanton with a smile on her face as she watched him get dressed and only roused herself up when he was fully clothed and ready to go. She went with him to the door of her house and kissed him again before hiding her still naked body behind the door as it opened and with one more swift kiss, she wished him luck as he left to hurry to his bank before closing time.