[The carousel in the park was cordoned off, yellow crime scene tape having entirely crushed the innocence of the kid-friendly area. Even the
song playing (at full BLARING volume) didn't help the grim scene. Six people were zip-tied to the delicately carved wooden horses and unable to remove themselves. Not a single one of the victims was dead. That was very important. But they were all roughed up in rather
personal ways according to their alleged crimes. (e.g. The guy that ran the dog fights has quite a few dog bites, etc. et al.)
There were
two common threads among the victims. The first was the fact that they were each one of the people that owned something that had been stolen in the
recent night of joyriding and thefts. The second (and far more important) was that they were all serial abusers able to circumnavigate the judicial system because they had money. The evidence of their buyouts along with their crimes is wrapped up nice and neat (again, with a bow on it) at the carousel's nearby control panel.
One of the victims is a therapist that specializes in treating abuse victims. It bears noting that the
good doctor is the only one that gives police a name of the attacker. He claims that this was done by one of his patients, a woman that went by the name of Jessica Turner. Unfortunately for the police, that name seems to be an alias as there is no record of this woman in town or the surrounding areas. The victims refuse to give any other information, and given the choice do not press charges.
It is later discovered that all the items that had been stolen previously were missing once more. This time? They weren't coming back.
Quid pro quo and all that, right, coppers?]