Past Behavior(Joseth Moore) “Past Behavior,” by Joseth Moore. Story Star version. Copyrighted @2023.


Dr. Ross is a young psychologist with a side-job doing paranormal investigations in Austin, Texas. Word got to the Houston Police Dept. that her work with the APD in cases helped them, & now Dr. Ross is on a case in Houston.
The investigation in Houston turned out to be a bit different than what the paranormal investigator is used to!

…Houston Police Department; Houston, Texas; USA. Present day…
Detective Escalante opened the door to Colonel Henry Jackson’s office after Col. Jackson gave out a, ‘Yeah!’ The head of Houston’s police force was seated behind his large, practical desk. His computer was obviously up and running and the police colonel had folders, files, and other paperwork strewn all in front of him, but there was one sheet of paper that Jackson was reading intently as Det. Escalante took a seat opposite of Colonel Jackson.
“Is there a new development with the case, Colonel,” Escalante asked with his brow deepened; wondering what the sixty-year-old man was reading with such interest!
Col. Jackson gave a mild grunt—more to himself than to Det. Escalante. “You had psychology when you went to college, right, Mike?”
Not understanding where the conversation was going, Michael played along. “Adolescent to Social Deviance among Pillars of Society-types…”
The detective was about to make a suggestion until Col. Jackson continued. "There's a bit more, Mike...besides all the hard work you and your team have been doing, my office has other sources that suggest our suspect, here, might be doing all this stealing just to gain access to money for something much bigger! Like I said, Mike: recognition and power..."
Detective Escalante's eyes widened with surprise. "So, you're saying that these burglaries might be just a means to an end? That our suspect is using the stolen money for a larger, more ambitious plan?"
Colonel Jackson nodded gravely. "That's what our sources indicate. It's crucial that we dig deeper into this motive and uncover any potential connections or patterns."
Detective Escalante leaned forward, his mind racing with possibilities. "If that's the case, we should consider reaching out to other law enforcement agencies and sharing this information. It's possible that this suspect's activities extend beyond our jurisdiction."
The colonel smiled approvingly. "Good thinking, Mike… You know, it’s kind of funny when you say, Extend beyond our jurisdiction.’ Sometimes, a department’s attitude and approach can be considered a jurisdiction, of sorts, Michael…”
The older man was obviously setting Escalante up for something!
“Because this suspect is a growing threat, and partially because—like so many other districts throughout the US, post-pandemic—our department is being stretched thin with an explosion of crime, HPD is going to contract a bit of help…Not just on this case, Micheal, but throughout our department, and throughout Texas, even…”
The colonel held up his police-issued smartphone and brought up a muted video of a young woman giving a streamed interview on one of the biggest social media sites. He handed the phone over to Michael so he could look on while the colonel continued to set up his plans for their case. “This is Vera Ross. Doctor Ross, Michael…her specialty is in criminals’ escalatory behavior and projecting where they’ll go and do —”
“—Colonel; the id in this video says she’s some kind of paranormal investigator!” Detective Escalante raised an eyebrow in disbelief as he glanced at the video on the phone.
Colonel Jackson chuckled and shrugged. "Emphasizing the Investigator part for our purposes, Detective. I know it sounds unconventional, but hear me out, Mike. Dr. Ross has this unique perspective on criminal behavior, and her expertise in escalatory patterns could be valuable in helping us understand our suspect's motives and next moves. Trust me, Michael, I’ve seen her in action after one of the detectives over at Austin suggested her to me! Remember that unexpected trip I had to take a couple of months back and I couldn’t tell anyone about it? I was with APD’s brass; going over her stats and streamed videos of the cases she’d been on in Austin."
The detective hesitated for a moment, contemplating the idea. "Well, if it helps us crack this case and protect the city, I'm willing to give it a shot," he finally conceded, handing the phone back to the colonel.
“Great! She’s over at Lazybrook—she wanted to get a head start so she can get her equipment all set up and, well, I guess get some kind of Feel for the neighborhood and the residents out there.” A shrug from Col. Jackson.
Det. Escalante started to leave the colonel’s office, but Jackson called out to him before he left. “Detective, make sure that none of our brothers and sisters from PD give her grief out there!”
Escalante thought for a couple of seconds. “It’s a different generation, Colonel. You’d be surprised how many others are accepting of superstitions from our great-grandparents’ days! Especially when you dress it up as paranormal.”
Col. Jackson paused, then began nodding his head at Michael’s point.

HOURS LATER; NIGHTTIME. LAZYBROOK NEIGHBORHOOD; HOUSTON…
Downtown Houston’s glittering skyscrapers were a few miles away from the field of action for Detective Escalante, Dr. Ross, and the small team they had with them. Ross, in her late-twenties; dressed more like a woman doubled her age, stayed mostly to herself while Det. Escalante and a few of Houston’s cops canvased the middle-class neighborhood. Several of the two- or three-storied houses and townhomes had been hit by HPD’s suspect, so some of the PD members were following up with interviews of civilians and inspections of the crime scenes.
For her part, Dr. Ross, strategically placed several of her paranormal investigative equipment between many of the townhomes and houses, given how tightly packed they were in Lazy Brook. Detective Escalante had seen her doing this from a distance and had made his way to where Dr. Ross stood after she had completed the first part of her role in HPD’s investigation.
“Doctor,” Michael greeted her with a subtle nod of his head.
She replied in an almost mirrored way. She remained in her spot, where the detective had approached her. Escalante could tell in the short time he had interacted with Ross that she was not the chatty type, so he made sure to keep some distance from her. And for Ross, she could tell that Det. Escalante was not there just for small talk. She had seen it before for years, now, from several other investigations she had conducted. Escalante was about to see if she was a scam or not!
Detective Escalante cleared his throat, breaking the silence between him and Dr. Ross. "So, Doctor, how exactly do you plan on using your paranormal investigative equipment to help us crack this case?"
Dr. Ross turned her attention towards the detective, her eyes filled with a mixture of determination and confidence. "Detective Escalante, my equipment allows me to detect and analyze subtle energy fluctuations that may be related to paranormal phenomena. By placing them strategically in this neighborhood, I hope to uncover any hidden connections or supernatural influences that might be affecting the suspect's behavior."
The detective nodded, intrigued by her explanation. "I've heard about your success in Austin. If your methods can help us catch this suspect and protect our city, then I'm willing to give it a chance. Let's see what your equipment can reveal," Escalante put to her while he jutted his chin in the direction of one of the pristine townhomes; the neighborhood streetlights washing the scene in sharp lights and shadows. “So, what did you put between the houses? It’s not like you’re setting a trap to capture the suspect…I’m not exactly clear on how detecting…fluctuating energies will nab this person.”
Dr. Ross nodded with understanding. But, again, she had been through this many times with skeptics and civilians who genuinely were curious. “Latent grid motion detectors…just like there are high tech cameras a lot of people place in the outdoors to capture wildlife as they walk by, my grid detectors do the same thing…” Det. Escalante was about to say something else until Dr. Ross quickly raised one of her index fingers to make one, very important point. “ And, Detective, not only can my grid detectors track the subjects during live time; my detectors can show me motion of the subject from the past…”
Escalante stared at Dr. Ross. He believed he understood what the young woman was saying, but he had to make sure! “Doctor…are you saying that your grid detectors, there, are able to trace a kind of…ghostly set of footprints?”
She looked off to the side with a thought. “Not a bad analogy! But imagine that, sometimes, weather can adversely affect footprints—snow falling on top of footprints; heavy rain washing them away…environmental factors can do the same thing with my grid detectors. Since those specific detectors utilize electromagnetism and radiation, if there are industrial-grade machines nearby one of my investigative scenes, those industrial pieces can “wash away” those electromagnetic footprints—to use your analogy.
“Also,” Dr. Ross continued as a thought occurred to her, “I have to be a bit careful when and where I direct my grid detectors…just like your analogy with footprints, if I’m in a crowd of people, it would be like trying to track someone via their footprints in the midst of a multitude of footprints in the snow! Right now, I don’t have a way of specifying my grids to a particular person’s magnetic-print—like a fingerprint. But there are others like me working on new grids to do just that!”
She stopped and it was her turn to stare. Dr. Ross wanted to make sure the middle-aged police detective understood her. To her surprise, he was genuinely nodding with a half-smile!
“That actually makes sense to me, Doctor Ross! Plus, if we’re able to see the travel behavior of our suspect, then we’re more likely to predict where he might go next!”
Now the scientist was beaming! “Very good, Detective! I’ll let you know if any of my grids catch something…”
“Sounds good. But, look, Doctor, we’re not exactly sure what we’re dealing with, here…no one’s talked with the media, yet, but a female teenager’s body was found in a public park not too far from Lazybrook! We’re not sure if it’s connected to this suspect—it would be outside of his behavior up to this point. I’d be careful…”

Just as Det. Escalante was ending his conversation with Dr. Ross, he got a call on his HPD phone from one of the officers on the beat with them.
"Detective, we've just received a report of a possible break-in at a house a few blocks away," the officer informed Escalante. "The homeowners are out of town, and a neighbor noticed some suspicious activity."
Escalante glanced at Dr. Ross. "Roger that, Bobby! Text me the address!” He then turned to Vera. “Dr. Ross, this might be the perfect opportunity to put your other equipment to the test. We might finally get some concrete evidence on the suspect!"
Det. Escalante told Ross to ride with him to the site! They made their way to the house in the detective’s car and Escalante couldn't help but feel a surge of anticipation! With Dr. Ross's expertise and the unique capabilities of her paranormal investigative equipment, it was possible they were one step closer to cracking the case and bringing the suspect to justice.
When they got to the stand-alone house that Bobby had called about, Det. Escalante told Dr. Ross to stay near the car, should things go bad! He had parked the sleek, dark car one block away, so as not to be potentially seen by their suspect.
At that point, Det. Escalante did not feel the need to call for backup. All the other officers with him on the case were slowly edging their way to the house—the porch light and back lights being on, though the family residents were currently not in Houston. While the HPD cops were tightening the noose, Dr. Ross quickly took out one of her grid detector emitters and tossed it toward the block where the house was. It was a bit short of the house, but close enough for the golf ball-sized laser-tool to emit its pulse and transmit to Ross’s hand-held device to read its analytics…
“Oh, my god,” Dr. Ross whispered to herself upon the device picking up ghostly images of a human figure that had recently ran in the vicinity…but, based on some pictures the HPD showed Vera, it was not the suspect!
Vera had not forgotten that Det. Escalante told her to stay close to the car. But she did not have a Houston Police Department-issued radio nor phone! So she had to quietly run to the house! She had to be careful not to startle the officers, so she would not get inadvertently shot by them while they were all under pressure as they closed in on the house! Dr. Ross stopped, picked up a pebble near a curb and tossed it toward the house—causing the officers jerk their attention toward her!
When they all turned toward the sound of the pebble hitting the side of a nearby house, they saw the young woman waving furiously at them to halt their advance!
Det. Escalante, miming his response to avoid getting the attention of their suspect, questioned Dr. Ross, ‘Why?!’
Ross’s response was to hold up her hand-held device and pointed aggressively to it. It was enough for the detective to order a retreat to his PD force over the comm and group-up where they had parked most of their vehicles…
When the last of Det. Escalante’s team finally joined the others about a block away, there were angry eyes focused on her amongst the police officers! Escalante was more of a puzzled countenance.
“Whoever is in that house is not your suspect, officers! I know you don’t want to hear that, but I can’t stay quiet and let a potential death of an innocent civilian to happen when I know I can prevent it. In fact…Look…”
The small team of HPD gathered around Dr. Ross as she held out her investigative device as it replayed the captured scene she had gotten a few minutes earlier. It was that ghostly-apparition of a person running—no one else was around on that portion of the neighborhood at the time, so it made it easier to capture. But on closer inspection, as Dr. Ross played the recorded scene a second time, showed that it was a child!
There was a gasp among the harden police officers clustered around Vera!
“Wait a minute,” one of the officers said in the scrunch; a young woman, “there’ve been some kids going missing, lately throughout Houston! Could—”
“You bet your ass,” came in one of the male officers! “It’s kind of hard to see with all these graphic effects, but I recognize that kid’s profile from the local news: that’s Nadine Parker!”
The commotion among the officers had gotten so that Det. Escalante had to quiet them down!
“Good job, Ross,” Escalante shot out to Dr. Ross—as if she were one of his officers! “Ok, guys, that probably means this house is his lair—so whoever else this subject nabbed is probably there, too! Don’t engage unless you have actual 20 on this scumbag, ok?”
A whispered affirmation from the cluster of officers. They, then, scattered and took up their previous positions as they quietly made their way to the targeted house! This time, Det. gave Vera a HPD radio! Dr. Ross, this time, stayed be Det. Escalante’s car as she watched from a block away.
It gave her some time to think about the case: the suspect was known for burglary, not kidnapping! Perhaps it was more than one person? Did they have the wrong criminal?
She, then, remembered she still had one of her grid detection hardware in the block. She had tossed it out toward the house and it was still engaged, according to her hand-held device that had GPS-tracking for all Dr. Ross’s tethered equipment pieces! She decided to bring up a live search with her nearby grid-detector while she waited…
…and there was ghostly, captured image in the livestreaming Dr. Ross had just turned on! And it was not a child! Given that the grid-detection technology, in general, was not perfect and much of the static-video was a bit hard to see details, Dr. Ross was not sure it was just a passing pedestrian. It was, after all, a big neighborhood. But, it was late at night. And based on the location of the figured that had passed by, the hand-held’s telemetry showed that the person had walked by a mere twenty minutes ago—that would put the person right there, just before Det. Escalante and his team gather for their brief meeting with her!
The device had capabilities to track for people (or animals, etc) by ticking back on the timeline—just like any other videos. Dr. Ross did this with the most recent figure she had captured…
…and it traced the figure to within ten feet of her!
Vera panicked! That person, whoever it was, had not left their position in all that time and the subject was just feet away from her! Clearly, it was someone with a malicious intent, it was fair to reason. For it was around 11:30 at night in a neighborhood without a business opened at that time, and no one else was around…and whoever it was, had to have witness Det. Escalante’s meetup with Dr. Ross!
And Vera was all by herself, while HPD were about to raid their targeted house!
“Dr. Ross, this is Detective Escalante,” he had called out over the radio he had given her. “We’re inside and we’ve found all three children that the news media had been reported kidnapped recently! You’re a genius! But listen, Doctor, I want you to get into the car! The suspect must’ve gotten out from the back yard…”
Det. Escalante’s voice went muddled. Not because of him, nor the radio link. Dr. Ross’s mind went into survival mode! For, she was sure, now. The most recent captured figure had to have been the criminal, and he just, now, heard over her radio that she played a part in the police raid!
She thought about Det. Escalante’s order about sheltering in his HPD car. But what if the suspect had a gun and shot through the car’s windows? Knowing that the targeted house was, now, safe, there was nothing left for Vera to do but run to it! Indeed, after she bolted into a full sprint —device still in-hand! —Vera took her radio with her other, free-hand and contacted Det. Escalante! “Detective, I’m running to the house—beware that the suspect is behind me!”
“Roger that…we’re on the way!”

There were, now, neighbors that were standing around outside, near the targeted house or on their porches, watching what was going on! She had to clear them from the scene!
“Get back into your homes—suspect nearby…get back inside and shelter in-place—turn off your lights!”
The civilians took her advice and all scattered while she made her way to the suspect’s house! One of the female officers grabbed her and took Dr. Ross to a corner of the front porch while Ross caught her breath after running to the house! She was, after all, still a civilian.
By that time, the wails of HPD sirens were, now, heard! It was the backup that was called in.

NEXT DAY; HOUSTON POLICE DEPARTMENT HEADQUARTERS…
Detective Escalante opened his office door as one of the other officers escorted Dr. Ross to a smiling Escalante! He warmly shook Ross’s hand, thanked the officer, and shut the door behind him while Vera took a seat, opposite of him, as the detective sat behind his desk.
“Kind of wild last night, huh?” he quipped, and they both broke out into a laugh!
“I’ve only done a few of these in Austin,” Dr. Ross said, “but it was the first time I ended up being in some of the action! Hopefully the last…”
A frown from Escalante. “What, you thinking of giving up on working with the police on cases? I talked with the Colonel and he said Austin’s PD can fast-track you to be certified…”
Dr. Ross sighed and looked off to a corner before responding. “I don’t know, Michael…maybe I’ve gotten out of my lane a bit. I’m just an over-educated psychologist who’s made a few bucks with my hobby. Like I said, it was my first time seeing real action while working with cops. You guys do this all the time!”
A dismissive wave from Escalante. “Well, between your work in Austin and, now Houston, you’re starting to build a name for yourself, Vera! I sure hope you think some more on this.”
A shrug from Dr. Ross. “Yeah…I’ll think about it. Especially with a streamlined certification, that would help.”
“Good! Ok, on to business…You know how it goes, Vera: we just need an official report from you and a statement from one of our officers, here, at HQ. Just making sure we’re on the same page…”
“Michael, can I ask you something before I make my statement with an officer?”
“Absolutely! What’s up?”
“I never heard about what happened with the suspect after backup was called last night…”
Det. Escalante gave a confusing look. “Oh…I wish all our cases ended that easily! Turns out someone in the neighborhood must’ve gave him a real scare!”
Now, it was Dr. Russ that gave a confused face! The detective, with a shrug, continued, seeing this.
“I don’t know, I probably shouldn't say this, especially as a cop in this political atmosphere we’re in, post-pandemic and all, but I’m ok with it! Probably some damn local-yocal trying to put fear into the suspect…he, literally, was scared-stiff!”
Dr. Ross had a horrified face! “You mean the vigilante killed the suspect?”
“No, no. I mean, dude was so scared of someone, he was in shock! Scum couldn’t move or talk—just kept looking around; like he saw something!”
Dr. Ross froze. Escalante gave a very concerning look at her!
“Detective…where did you find the suspect last night?”
His countenance did not change. “On his own yard! Turned out, he never left his property! One of the important reasons we need your side of the story…why didn’t the suspect simply run from the cops when he had a chance, and you were running to the damn house—where he was!”
A laugh from Det. Escalante. But Dr. Ross did not join in that time.
“By the way, Doctor, what were you running from last night anyway…?”

Fin

[ “Past Behavior,” was partially generated by Notion Ai at appx 6 % artificial intelligence-ratio. ~Joseth Moore (Scifiguy) ]

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