“Brooklyn Nine-Nine: Case of The Serial Tickler” (Part 1, no tickling)
Phones were ringing. Coffee pots were brewing. There was the usual noise of all the hustle and bustle of officers as they moved about Brooklyn’s 99th Precinct. The squad of detectives were in the briefing room getting their assignments for the day. Detective Amy Santiago sat up straight with a notepad and pen ready to take down information. She wore a dark grey business suit with a coral button up blouse and black close-toed heels. Her partner, Detective Rosa Diaz, sat back in her seat in a more relaxed demeanor. She used her pocket knife to shave the tip of a toothpick into an even finer point. She wore a black button up blouse, black pants, and black boots.
Captain Holt addressed Santiago and Diaz as he explained the case he was assigning them. He brought over a large case file and placed it on the table they were sitting at. “You two will be investigating a series of...let’s call them abductions and assaults...that have been popping up all over our district. We have limited information at this time but we do know the suspect is male, over six feet tall, and has a muscular build. His M.O. is to overpower unsuspecting women, tie them up, and tickle them for hours back at his apartment or in their own homes if he happens to capture them there. The women are usually taken from other locations but are blindfolded for the drive to his apartment and also the drive to a random dumping location. He wears a mask and leaves very little evidence behind. Most of what we know is based on the victims’ accounts after they’re freed. We did manage to find a feather at one of the victim’s apartments but the lab hasn’t come back with anything yet.”
Santiago and Diaz glanced at each other with perplexed expressions. Captain Holt continued to brief them, “The victims seemed to be in quite a bit of distress after their ordeals but given the nature of the crime and the fact that no physical injury was sustained, the calls were being fielded by regular patrol units rather than coming across our desks. The suspect has assaulted 34 women that we’ve documented so far but it’s likely there are many more victims that haven’t come forward out of embarrassment. Getting these victims to come in and talk about their experiences is difficult because they feel conflicted for feeling traumatized after being subjected to something as silly as tickling.”
Holt continued, “This has managed to stay out of the press so far because your run of the mill woman being tickled against her will is hardly the crime of the century. However, that was until a State Representative’s daughter became one of his victims. She was tickled like the others and there doesn’t seem to be any motive for targeting her specifically. Probably just a case of wrong place, wrong time. But the papers made it front page news and are calling our perp “The Tickler”.
“Real original,” Diaz commented sarcastically.
“That State Representative is calling for action. So we need to close this one fast. Understood?” Captain Holt excused himself and walked back to his office.
“Those chicks are dumb for first of all, getting caught, and second of all, being made to laugh like wimps from a little tickling,” Diaz said coldly as she closed her pocket knife and stuck the toothpick in her mouth. Santiago raised her eyebrows and looked over at her partner. “Come on, Diaz. Have a heart. These women were scared and forced to be tickled for hours not knowing what would happen to them after. We need to get this creep off the street. It’ll be an easy arrest once we figure out who he is.”
“Shouldn’t you two be out trying to arrest real criminals instead of ones that tickle? I mean come on, who’s really that upset by a little tickling? Goochie goochie goo...” Gina said sarcastically as she wiggled her fingers and snickered at the detectives. Gina had been standing in the doorway behind them and listened to the whole case briefing. She was wearing a dark blue blouse, black dress pants, and black high heels.
“You listened in on our case briefing? Don’t you have papers to shuffle or something?” Diaz questioned. Gina rolled her eyes and came over to sit on their table. “I wish. I’m so bored that I feel like I’m losing my freaking mind. I already researched rare South American stomach viruses I could fake being sick with just to go home today. Want me to help you go through the case file and figure out who your guy is? You know, so you two can hurry up and go back to being real detectives?” Santiago and Diaz both got up annoyed and went back to their desks.
After a while, the detectives decided to get out of the office and hit the streets. Santiago suggested they go to some of the apartment complexes in the general area where many of the crimes have been occurring and start knocking on doors. Hopefully someone would have seen something or maybe even have an idea of who the guy is.
Santiago and Diaz sat in their unmarked squad car and studied the case file for a bit before heading out. There was a stack of pictures of the victims which had been taken when they had come into the precinct to file reports of their ordeals. Santiago flipped through the pictures. All of the women seemed to be ashamed and had guilty looks on their faces for even being in the precinct making a report. Their hair was messy and their makeup was running around the corners of their eyes.
The detectives noticed the perp didn’t seem to have a preference as far as what type of females he targeted. The victims ranged all over the place as far as race, age, physical appearance, and even social status. Santiago and Diaz found that puzzling. Usually serial offenders have a “type” but it wasn’t apparent if he did.
Santiago: “Look, this girl is Puerto Rican, 20 years old, a full-time student, captured as she walked home from the campus. Driven to the perp’s apartment and tickled with a feather she says.”
Diaz: “Hm-hmm. Here’s a black, 34 year old hairdresser that was nabbed on her way home from work. Driven to his apartment. Apparently he used baby oil and a hairbrush on her soles.”
Santiago: “And a 23 year old Asian girl that helps her family with a restaurant they own. She stated she had just signed for a delivery in the back alley behind the restaurant right before her family was closing up for the night. She remembers being pulled into a van and driven to an apartment, where he tickled her with a feather.”
Diaz: “Check this out. This woman is an older white lady, age 52, teaches piano lessons out of her home. She had just finished giving a lesson when our perp snuck in, tied her up, and tickled her nylon-covered feet and toes with his fingers and an electric toothbrush.”
Santiago: “These accounts are so...weird. Look, these young, black girls are only 18. They ditched class around 10 a.m. and left their high school. They were planning on going to see a movie but were pulled into an alley on the way there, where the perp had his van staged. He took them to his apartment and tickled them together side by side with a couple feathers.”
Diaz: “Yeah, check this one out. A 31 year old Middle Eastern woman just finished her aerobics class at her gym and was about to get in her car. She says she felt a hand cover her mouth and one arm encircle her. Then she was pulled into a van and driven to his apartment, where he scrubbed her soles with a hairbrush.”
“For the love of God, can we get going already!” Gina said as she popped up from laying down on the back floorboard. Santiago and Diaz both jumped at the sudden surprise. “Gina, what in the hell are you doing in our car?!” Diaz demanded.
“What?! I told you I was bored out of my mind and needed to get out of the office. I saw you two getting ready to leave so I hurried down to your car and was waiting for you to take off before I revealed myself. But damn, you two are giving me the creeps talking about this crazy and I’m getting tired of hiding back here. Come on, let me go out on this call with you girls. Please! I need to do something besides sit and file papers or I’m going to lose it,” Gina explained.
Santiago and Diaz looked at her and finally caved. “Fine,” was all Diaz said as she buckled her seatbelt and put the car in drive. Gina was giddy that they agreed. The three of them started heading toward the apartment complexes to see about finding a good lead.
Santiago radioed their dispatch and let them know where they were. The three of them walked into the first apartment complex and started talking to whoever opened their door. There were a lot of residents that didn’t answer and a few that closed the door as soon as they saw it was the police.
After climbing up steps and knocking on every door in three apartment complexes, the ladies were growing tired and hot. It was a warm day and there were about eight floors to each apartment complex. Finally they got to an apartment on the top floor of the fourth building. Santiago knocked and waited. They were about to head back downstairs when Diaz noticed a single earring on the worn carpet in front of the door. She recalled that the victims said they remembered being taken into an elevator and going up for a while before getting to the man’s apartment.
“This might be it,” Diaz said as she picked up the earring. “One of our victims could have lost this in the scuffle to get her into the apartment. And it doesn’t seem like people living here really care what goes on based on the greetings we got already.” Diaz checked the doorknob. The door was unlocked and creaked as Diaz twisted the doorknob and pushed it in gently. The door slowly swung open and the three women quietly slipped inside to check it out. Diaz announced they were the police and for anyone inside to show themselves. Santiago ordered Gina to stay back by the front door as they went on to check the back bedroom.
Santiago and Diaz drew their guns and then went into the bedroom to clear it. They were shocked to find a collection of various tickling tools scattered about the room. There were ropes and padded cuffs laying about. And they saw pictures of each girl barefoot and exhausted from the tickling taped up on the wall.
The detectives holstered their weapons and went back to radio for backup. They were stopped in their tracks when they saw a masked man holding Gina around the neck as she struggled to get free. He had a pistol in his other hand. “Drop the weapons, cuffs, and the radios,” the man ordered as he squeezed Gina tightly. Santiago and Diaz were pissed that he got the drop on them but reluctantly tossed away their guns, handcuffs, and their radios. The man kicked the items away from the detectives. He pushed Gina over toward them and stepped back to block the doorway in case they were planning on making a break for it. He picked up their duty weapons and unloaded them both. Then he picked up the four sets of cuffs and stuffed them into his pockets.
“There, happy? We won’t arrest you. We’ll just pretend like we never saw you if you let us walk out of here,” Santiago reasoned.
“Can we go now?” Diaz asked curtly as she scoffed.
“Mr. Tickler, sir, I’m actually not even a detective. I’m an office assistant and I don’t know anything about your case. I just came along with them because I was bored. Can I just get out of here or?...” Gina asked nervously.
The man tossed a set of handcuffs to Santiago and ordered her to handcuff Diaz. Santiago slowly bent down and picked up the handcuffs. She didn’t quite know what the right decision was. The man told her, “Look, I can’t have you ladies following me when I get out of here so I just need you cuffed for now while I pack some things and jet. Got it?”
Diaz kept her icy glare on the perp as she held her wrists out toward Santiago to cuff her. Her partner clicked the handcuffs on her and apologized. “It’s fine, we have no choice. Let’s just do what he says and let him go for now. We’ll arrest him another day,” Diaz acknowledged. The man threw over another set of cuffs and ordered Santiago to handcuff Gina. Santiago again did as she was told and clicked the cuffs on Gina’s wrists, all the while having a horrible feeling in her gut. She didn’t quite trust that this guy was just going to let them go.
The man retrieved a third set of handcuffs and walked up to Santiago. She was wide-eyed and gulped nervously. “Your wrists, Detective.” Santiago’s hands shook as she held up her arms. The man slapped the cuffs on her wrists and clicked them down securely. Then he turned and shut his front door. He locked the deadbolt he had installed on it.
“Wh..what happens now?” Santiago asked, fearing his response. The man said he was going to leave as soon as he secured them but that obviously wasn’t true.
The man smiled at them devilishly and answered, “Oh I think you know, Detective.” The women all gave off pouty expressions as the realization that they were about to become just more victims in this case set in.
TO BE CONTINUED...
Phones were ringing. Coffee pots were brewing. There was the usual noise of all the hustle and bustle of officers as they moved about Brooklyn’s 99th Precinct. The squad of detectives were in the briefing room getting their assignments for the day. Detective Amy Santiago sat up straight with a notepad and pen ready to take down information. She wore a dark grey business suit with a coral button up blouse and black close-toed heels. Her partner, Detective Rosa Diaz, sat back in her seat in a more relaxed demeanor. She used her pocket knife to shave the tip of a toothpick into an even finer point. She wore a black button up blouse, black pants, and black boots.
Captain Holt addressed Santiago and Diaz as he explained the case he was assigning them. He brought over a large case file and placed it on the table they were sitting at. “You two will be investigating a series of...let’s call them abductions and assaults...that have been popping up all over our district. We have limited information at this time but we do know the suspect is male, over six feet tall, and has a muscular build. His M.O. is to overpower unsuspecting women, tie them up, and tickle them for hours back at his apartment or in their own homes if he happens to capture them there. The women are usually taken from other locations but are blindfolded for the drive to his apartment and also the drive to a random dumping location. He wears a mask and leaves very little evidence behind. Most of what we know is based on the victims’ accounts after they’re freed. We did manage to find a feather at one of the victim’s apartments but the lab hasn’t come back with anything yet.”
Santiago and Diaz glanced at each other with perplexed expressions. Captain Holt continued to brief them, “The victims seemed to be in quite a bit of distress after their ordeals but given the nature of the crime and the fact that no physical injury was sustained, the calls were being fielded by regular patrol units rather than coming across our desks. The suspect has assaulted 34 women that we’ve documented so far but it’s likely there are many more victims that haven’t come forward out of embarrassment. Getting these victims to come in and talk about their experiences is difficult because they feel conflicted for feeling traumatized after being subjected to something as silly as tickling.”
Holt continued, “This has managed to stay out of the press so far because your run of the mill woman being tickled against her will is hardly the crime of the century. However, that was until a State Representative’s daughter became one of his victims. She was tickled like the others and there doesn’t seem to be any motive for targeting her specifically. Probably just a case of wrong place, wrong time. But the papers made it front page news and are calling our perp “The Tickler”.
“Real original,” Diaz commented sarcastically.
“That State Representative is calling for action. So we need to close this one fast. Understood?” Captain Holt excused himself and walked back to his office.
“Those chicks are dumb for first of all, getting caught, and second of all, being made to laugh like wimps from a little tickling,” Diaz said coldly as she closed her pocket knife and stuck the toothpick in her mouth. Santiago raised her eyebrows and looked over at her partner. “Come on, Diaz. Have a heart. These women were scared and forced to be tickled for hours not knowing what would happen to them after. We need to get this creep off the street. It’ll be an easy arrest once we figure out who he is.”
“Shouldn’t you two be out trying to arrest real criminals instead of ones that tickle? I mean come on, who’s really that upset by a little tickling? Goochie goochie goo...” Gina said sarcastically as she wiggled her fingers and snickered at the detectives. Gina had been standing in the doorway behind them and listened to the whole case briefing. She was wearing a dark blue blouse, black dress pants, and black high heels.
“You listened in on our case briefing? Don’t you have papers to shuffle or something?” Diaz questioned. Gina rolled her eyes and came over to sit on their table. “I wish. I’m so bored that I feel like I’m losing my freaking mind. I already researched rare South American stomach viruses I could fake being sick with just to go home today. Want me to help you go through the case file and figure out who your guy is? You know, so you two can hurry up and go back to being real detectives?” Santiago and Diaz both got up annoyed and went back to their desks.
After a while, the detectives decided to get out of the office and hit the streets. Santiago suggested they go to some of the apartment complexes in the general area where many of the crimes have been occurring and start knocking on doors. Hopefully someone would have seen something or maybe even have an idea of who the guy is.
Santiago and Diaz sat in their unmarked squad car and studied the case file for a bit before heading out. There was a stack of pictures of the victims which had been taken when they had come into the precinct to file reports of their ordeals. Santiago flipped through the pictures. All of the women seemed to be ashamed and had guilty looks on their faces for even being in the precinct making a report. Their hair was messy and their makeup was running around the corners of their eyes.
The detectives noticed the perp didn’t seem to have a preference as far as what type of females he targeted. The victims ranged all over the place as far as race, age, physical appearance, and even social status. Santiago and Diaz found that puzzling. Usually serial offenders have a “type” but it wasn’t apparent if he did.
Santiago: “Look, this girl is Puerto Rican, 20 years old, a full-time student, captured as she walked home from the campus. Driven to the perp’s apartment and tickled with a feather she says.”
Diaz: “Hm-hmm. Here’s a black, 34 year old hairdresser that was nabbed on her way home from work. Driven to his apartment. Apparently he used baby oil and a hairbrush on her soles.”
Santiago: “And a 23 year old Asian girl that helps her family with a restaurant they own. She stated she had just signed for a delivery in the back alley behind the restaurant right before her family was closing up for the night. She remembers being pulled into a van and driven to an apartment, where he tickled her with a feather.”
Diaz: “Check this out. This woman is an older white lady, age 52, teaches piano lessons out of her home. She had just finished giving a lesson when our perp snuck in, tied her up, and tickled her nylon-covered feet and toes with his fingers and an electric toothbrush.”
Santiago: “These accounts are so...weird. Look, these young, black girls are only 18. They ditched class around 10 a.m. and left their high school. They were planning on going to see a movie but were pulled into an alley on the way there, where the perp had his van staged. He took them to his apartment and tickled them together side by side with a couple feathers.”
Diaz: “Yeah, check this one out. A 31 year old Middle Eastern woman just finished her aerobics class at her gym and was about to get in her car. She says she felt a hand cover her mouth and one arm encircle her. Then she was pulled into a van and driven to his apartment, where he scrubbed her soles with a hairbrush.”
“For the love of God, can we get going already!” Gina said as she popped up from laying down on the back floorboard. Santiago and Diaz both jumped at the sudden surprise. “Gina, what in the hell are you doing in our car?!” Diaz demanded.
“What?! I told you I was bored out of my mind and needed to get out of the office. I saw you two getting ready to leave so I hurried down to your car and was waiting for you to take off before I revealed myself. But damn, you two are giving me the creeps talking about this crazy and I’m getting tired of hiding back here. Come on, let me go out on this call with you girls. Please! I need to do something besides sit and file papers or I’m going to lose it,” Gina explained.
Santiago and Diaz looked at her and finally caved. “Fine,” was all Diaz said as she buckled her seatbelt and put the car in drive. Gina was giddy that they agreed. The three of them started heading toward the apartment complexes to see about finding a good lead.
Santiago radioed their dispatch and let them know where they were. The three of them walked into the first apartment complex and started talking to whoever opened their door. There were a lot of residents that didn’t answer and a few that closed the door as soon as they saw it was the police.
After climbing up steps and knocking on every door in three apartment complexes, the ladies were growing tired and hot. It was a warm day and there were about eight floors to each apartment complex. Finally they got to an apartment on the top floor of the fourth building. Santiago knocked and waited. They were about to head back downstairs when Diaz noticed a single earring on the worn carpet in front of the door. She recalled that the victims said they remembered being taken into an elevator and going up for a while before getting to the man’s apartment.
“This might be it,” Diaz said as she picked up the earring. “One of our victims could have lost this in the scuffle to get her into the apartment. And it doesn’t seem like people living here really care what goes on based on the greetings we got already.” Diaz checked the doorknob. The door was unlocked and creaked as Diaz twisted the doorknob and pushed it in gently. The door slowly swung open and the three women quietly slipped inside to check it out. Diaz announced they were the police and for anyone inside to show themselves. Santiago ordered Gina to stay back by the front door as they went on to check the back bedroom.
Santiago and Diaz drew their guns and then went into the bedroom to clear it. They were shocked to find a collection of various tickling tools scattered about the room. There were ropes and padded cuffs laying about. And they saw pictures of each girl barefoot and exhausted from the tickling taped up on the wall.
The detectives holstered their weapons and went back to radio for backup. They were stopped in their tracks when they saw a masked man holding Gina around the neck as she struggled to get free. He had a pistol in his other hand. “Drop the weapons, cuffs, and the radios,” the man ordered as he squeezed Gina tightly. Santiago and Diaz were pissed that he got the drop on them but reluctantly tossed away their guns, handcuffs, and their radios. The man kicked the items away from the detectives. He pushed Gina over toward them and stepped back to block the doorway in case they were planning on making a break for it. He picked up their duty weapons and unloaded them both. Then he picked up the four sets of cuffs and stuffed them into his pockets.
“There, happy? We won’t arrest you. We’ll just pretend like we never saw you if you let us walk out of here,” Santiago reasoned.
“Can we go now?” Diaz asked curtly as she scoffed.
“Mr. Tickler, sir, I’m actually not even a detective. I’m an office assistant and I don’t know anything about your case. I just came along with them because I was bored. Can I just get out of here or?...” Gina asked nervously.
The man tossed a set of handcuffs to Santiago and ordered her to handcuff Diaz. Santiago slowly bent down and picked up the handcuffs. She didn’t quite know what the right decision was. The man told her, “Look, I can’t have you ladies following me when I get out of here so I just need you cuffed for now while I pack some things and jet. Got it?”
Diaz kept her icy glare on the perp as she held her wrists out toward Santiago to cuff her. Her partner clicked the handcuffs on her and apologized. “It’s fine, we have no choice. Let’s just do what he says and let him go for now. We’ll arrest him another day,” Diaz acknowledged. The man threw over another set of cuffs and ordered Santiago to handcuff Gina. Santiago again did as she was told and clicked the cuffs on Gina’s wrists, all the while having a horrible feeling in her gut. She didn’t quite trust that this guy was just going to let them go.
The man retrieved a third set of handcuffs and walked up to Santiago. She was wide-eyed and gulped nervously. “Your wrists, Detective.” Santiago’s hands shook as she held up her arms. The man slapped the cuffs on her wrists and clicked them down securely. Then he turned and shut his front door. He locked the deadbolt he had installed on it.
“Wh..what happens now?” Santiago asked, fearing his response. The man said he was going to leave as soon as he secured them but that obviously wasn’t true.
The man smiled at them devilishly and answered, “Oh I think you know, Detective.” The women all gave off pouty expressions as the realization that they were about to become just more victims in this case set in.
TO BE CONTINUED...
