The Legend by G. A. Augustin

him.  One Friday evening, after an exhausting three hours of cheerleading practice, she reluctantly took him up on his offer.  She recalled "Before closing the door to his car, he sped off."  Minutes into the drive, he adjusted the rearview mirror so he could gaze at her in the passenger seat.  She kept noticing Albert's eerie blue eyes peering at her.  "It's like his eyes are burned into my memory.  That's all I kept seeing.  Those... dark... blue eyes."  She started reconsidering the offer for the ride home. 
    "You can drop me off here.  I need to run to the store."  She directed. 
    "I'll take you to the store, " Albert responded.
    Albert suddenly became bold, reached over and fondled her exposed thigh from her skimpy cheerleading uniform.  She screamed and smacked his wrist away.  Albert felt disrespected.  "You thought this ride was gonna be for free?"  Albert barked then clenched onto her inner thigh while still navigating through traffic.  She struggled to pull away from him but his hold was too firm.  She began jabbing him in the mouth.  Albert caught her wrist and held onto it as he drove into the alley behind his apartment building.  "Then it just happened so fast.  I tried to open the door and run but he wrapped his arms around my neck and stomach and carried me over the front seat into the back.  He got on top of me and he... He... He ripped my shorts and underwear off and he... He kept calling me 'Lauren' the entire time..."   
    When it was over, Albert released her and she fled home.  In Albert's journal he said it was the first time he has ever raped a female.  He was nervous and regretted not killing her.  He thought she was going to notify the police.  However, officers never came to his door.   She disclosed to Detective Wu that she was too embarrassed to tell anyone she was assaulted by him.  "My parents warned me not to get into his car.  I couldn't tell them what he did to me."
     
    It's closing in on a year since Albert's last homicide.  Although he still hasn't been captured, it seems the citizens have begun to put Albert behind them.  Steadily the nailed wooden panels are coming off the boarded up nightclubs.  Diners are staying open into the late night hours once again.  Police patrols are lessening and the ladies of the evening have re-taken their posts in the back alleys and motel fronts.  There are no more talks about the "Harlot Murderer" in the bars, barbershops or street corners.  Downtown is returning to its old ways.
    A couple of weeks ago, while scouring the city for Albert's whereabouts, I was able to get a lead on another hom icide.  A mother, who lost her only daughter to the "Harlot Murderer," was about to lose her husband as well.  His name's Ludlow and he was accused of a homicide.  However, word on the street is he didn't commit the crime.  It was a set up.  It's my fault her daughter was killed.  If I had just called the police that night, Albert wouldn't have gotten this far.  I can't bring her daughter back but I could at least try to prove her husband's innocence.
    The apartment where the homicide occurred was still taped off with crime scene tape.  Tampering with the locked door would draw too much attention from the prying eyes that live on this floor.  However, after scaling down the fire escape I noticed a rear window was left slightly open.  It didn't take much to hoist it up and gain entry to the railroad-style apartment. 
    The killer was callous and cold-blooded.  Detective Wu informed me the victim was killed from blunt force trauma.  A metal baseball bat and a soapy rag were found in the living room where the body was.  I can't even find a square foot on the walls, ceiling or carpet that doesn't have blood splatter on it.  Even her furniture was stained with it.  The glass coffee table was shattered and her sofas were flipped onto its back.  Her bookshelves, television and house plants were knocked over.  Several people