Daze of Reality

by Molly Barrett

  “Do you know anything about what the victims had in common or how they might be related to Stroud and Grayson’s agendas? They tried to shut down a connection pretty damn quick. I wouldn’t be surprised if they killed all of them themselves, or had someone else do it for them more likely. And there is still the question up in the air, is there going to be a third murder in District 5, my district, completing the same District 4 cycle?”

  “Like I said, were looking into it.”

  “Shit, you’re a fucking open book aren’t you? Those photographs you gave me, who took those and where?”

  “That’s not for me to say, but if I were a betting man I’d say Brooks is not the only cop on Stroud’s payroll. I would venture to say that there are others who may be closer than you might think.”

  “And how are you coming to this conclusion? More pictures or it’s not for you to say?” John questioned coldly.

  “You know John, I’ve found in life the only person I can trust is myself, and that’s on a good day. You should probably surround yourself with yourself from now on. Keep a distance; you never know whose presence you’re in.”

  “I’ve really had enough of your mind games, Derek. Either you have my back or get out of my way.”

  “Hah, one man army, huh. You humor me. Good luck with that shit. You have an audience John, and it seems to be growing. Right now it’s too early to pinpoint all the players in your realm, but it seems not all of them are friendly.”

  “So you’re looking into it,” John retorted.

  “You’re starting to catch on,” Derek laughed. “Look, they’re watching you; Devin knew that. It was his belief that one of your detectives might be involved with that, but he wasn’t sure.”

  “And why the hell didn’t he tell me that?”

  “He never got the chance. Don’t get too jumpy about it; just don’t let your guard down. We know that there’s people in your department working with Stroud and Grayson; we just don’t know who or how many.”

  “Perfect,” John answered back. He had trusted Devin, but he thought that he trusted his detectives, at least to the point that they wouldn’t be moles. What was he supposed to do if he couldn’t trust his own damn people and was being surrounded by Stroud and company at the same time? “And you Derek, who do you think it is?” John finally asked.

  “I don’t know John, but in my experience it usually isn’t the most likely person nor is it the least. Why don’t you start a mental list of the people you’re in contact with for various reasons during the day, and what possible information they might be able to get from you based on their positions? Then you could pass that on to me, and I could check that off against incoming intel. We could try that for starters.”

  “So you expect me to trust you that much already, huh. Not so sure about that. What was Devin’s reasoning for surmising it could be one of my detectives anyway?”

  “He had been listening in on an Agent who was receiving intel from someone inside of your department. At one point, the Agent recounted the descriptions of locations under surveillance. Devin listened to them describe a physical location that sounded eerily similar to your house. The Agent even went into some details of the setup inside the home. He figured someone that knowledgeable must have been in your house more than once or twice. You do have poker night at your house every other week now don’t you? Some of the detectives are friends of yours and are over for games. You don’t seem to normally have other cops over besides your detectives and well family members. Is that a correct observation?”

  John couldn’t find his own breath. All this time they were being watched, John and his family. Someone he had invited into his home might possibly be betraying him, and was targeting him and his family somehow, for someone. Whether it was one person or a whole army of people, he was going to stop them. John didn’t really trust Derek; hell, Devin and Derek’s people, whoever they were, had been watching him too. At least he had been getting help from their side. John knew that Devin had watched his house a couple of times already for security reasons, but he had no idea it went this big or this far.

  “You sure think you know a whole hell of a lot Derek. How many people do you have working at my department?”

  Derek pried open a grin. “Oh one or two.”

  Where do the streams of bullshit end? Hell, where was the delta for that matter He’d probably never find out. “Well, you’re being so helpful today Derek with all of my problems, and I guess you’re people have been spying on me for my own good. How long have you been watching me?”

  “Devin was told to keep an eye on you since you kept pissing off the feds. You know what they say, enemy of my enemy. You were helping us out, so he was helping you out; and he was trying to make sure you didn’t get yourself killed off.”

  “Ah, I see. Well, you know I…” John felt his phone buzzing and stopped mid-sentence. Great, it was work, and on a Saturday too. “I better take this,” John sighed.

  “Well, there’s no tracing this damn place; I give you my permission to answer your call.”

  “Well, hot damn,” John exclaimed as he walked toward the other side of the room. “Goldman,” John answered.

  “Why John I’m glad you answered,” Ryst responded. “I need you to come down to the station please.”

  “On my day off, I sure hope that it’s important.”

  “I think that you will be glad to hear that we have a new, well, lead on the attempted attack on your son.”

  John’s heart skipped a beat. Was this truly a lead, or just a well-placed scene that Stroud was playing out? John closed his eyes and took in a deep breath only to see his family staring back at him through a familiar window he could not open. Well, maybe he could crack it. “Yeah, um, I’ll be there as soon as I can,” John responded.

  “Going somewhere?” Derek asked after John clicked off the phone.

  “Possibly. Look, I’ll consider feeding you information about who I’m coming in contact with during the day if you share with me any intel that you are comparing it to.”

  “I’ll see what I can do.”

  “Well, while you sit here in your castle soaking up whatever intel is handed to you, I need to be on my way; unless you have any other helpful hints that is.”

  Just then the door opened as several guards entered the room. One seemed to stand out in rank from the others as he moved forward, and John remembered the man’s quiet presence during his previous stay.

  “Sir, an urgent matter has arrived for your attendance,” the man announced after coming up beside Derek.

  “I see,” Derek responded coldly. “Have someone take Mr. Goldman here back from whence he came.”

  “Yes sir,” the man responded, and John was led away to be hooded once more.

  John pulled up to the parking garage with a lot on his mind. He still wasn’t sure what kind of information he was willing to share with Derek, but for now he was going to keep this call from Ryst to himself. John wanted to see privately what direction this new lead pertaining to Christopher was going to take. It was probably a good thing he did leave Derek’s little Castle when he did. If he heard “we’re looking into it” come out of Derek’s mouth one more time John might have knocked some teeth out. John figured that Derek’s people probably weren’t sharing very much with him at all; there’s no way that they would be giving as much as they were trying to take. Now however, knowing that there was someone in his department other than the Agents working against him, he knew that he was going to need to watch his back even more; and sadly maybe start to trust Derek a little more as well.

  Grabbing his ticket, John headed up to find a place to park. He tried to push Derek out of his head, and began to run through the scenarios that he might be walking into inside of the building ahead. What was Ryst going to say and maybe more importantly who was going to be in there with him? Well, there was only one way to find out.

  Walking through the doors on the weekend always had a different feel to it
. Sure he had done it countless times when needed, but still the faces weren’t all the same, and the environment seemed to shift somehow. Though, his whole department seemed to be shifting lately. John turned once again toward the office of Captain Ryst and knocked, only to receive silence. He knocked once more before trying the door, which of course was locked. “What the hell?” John mumbled to himself. “Figures.”

  “May I help you?”

  John spun around as he heard a familiar voice. Stroud stood larger than life in front of him poorly feigning a look of concern.

  “And what brings you in today, Agent Stroud?”

  “I work here; remember I have that big corner office down the hallway. If you are looking for Ryst, I’ve come to tell you that we are down by the Section 2 interrogation rooms.”

  “We, huh.”

  “Why yes, I told you that it was important for me to help your case move forward, faster, and that is what I fully intend on doing. We have made good progress, and if you will follow me to Section 2 you shall see this for yourself, Lieutenant.”

  “Well, by all means, lead on,” John returned, a bit dryly.

  Upon reaching their new destination, John noticed two things; Ryst in the hallway and an unfamiliar face in the interrogation room.

  “Do you know who that man is John?” Stroud asked, waving his hand toward the interrogation window. John stood quietly assuming the question would be answered soon enough. “You may not, but alas the two of you have a common acquaintance. This man is obviously a prisoner in our grand system of justice. He has told us a very interesting tale. Come; let us all talk here in the conference area.” Stroud led John and Ryst into a small conference room across from the interrogation area.

  “Yes,” Stroud continued, “we do believe that that man knows who tried to have your boy killed.”

  “And why is that?” John softly responded.

  “His cellmate put out the hit, which was rescinded after he found pleasure enough from your pain, Lieutenant.”

  “And who the hell is his cellmate?” John questioned, his voice growing much louder now. Ryst stepped in closer now seeing John’s anger rising.

  “The hit has been traced back to a prisoner George M. Nolan,” Stroud firmly replied. “Apparently Mr. Nolan has been recently diagnosed as being terminally ill. Losing the last sixteen years of his life inside a maximum security prison has made him a very bitter man. Since you are the one that put him there, he blames you, and wanted to punish you by taking away your son. Mr. Nolan felt you had that coming to you for ruining his life.”

  “Mr. Nolan? Mr. Nolan! I don’t want to hear that son of a bitch’s name spoken with that much dignity. That piece of shit deserves to burn in hell,” John yelled out.

  “John, let’s calm down now,” Ryst pleaded. “I know that this is an emotional time, but you have to keep your wits about you.”

  “Keep my what? You’re trying to tell me that my own father tried to kill Christopher, and you want me to calm down? How the hell did he put out a hit? Was this guy in on it?”

  “Your father was bragging about what he had done, John. He felt like he didn’t have anything to lose, and the fact that he got to you gives him more power for the time he has left there,” Ryst explained.

  “Only he won’t be finishing his time there now, John. Your father may have been sentenced to thirty years for attempted murder of a child when he tried to kill you sixteen years ago, but now he has attempted murder of a police officer added to that. Under the new laws that falls also under federal law, and we will be trying him and his associates as such. Your biological father, Mr. George M. Nolan is being transferred to federal custody as we speak, and will never harm you or your family members again.”

  “I’m going to talk to the guy in interrogation. I want to hear his side of it,” John spoke as he stepped toward the door. Walking into the hallway however, John noticed a problem. The man had vanished. “Where did he go?” John asked tensely.

  “He’s been transferred to federal custody as well John. The prisoner gave up useful information and is now in need of protected custody in the prison population. We can do that best from our closed federal arena. The important thing is that we know your family is now safe,” Stroud replied.

  An eerie feeling came over John. The idea of his true father maybe being responsible for what had happened that day infuriated him a moment ago. However, a more chilling truth seemed present here today. Stroud was the devil in front of him now. This time around it seemed that Stroud was the one controlling the stage before him, and John’s father might now merely be a prop that would soon be hidden away to collect dust.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  John wasn’t sure what he wanted to believe. Sure, it would be easier to accept Stroud’s tale of convenience. The monster that was John’s true father was capable of anything. He was a truly evil man that had been rotting away in prison for almost killing John when he was only a kid. Who’s to say he wouldn’t try to have John’s own son killed? His drunk ass had beaten John and James for years, it hadn’t mattered at all that they were children. Jason was the only lucky one, since he didn’t live with them much growing up. Yes, John had to admit that George M. Nolan could have possibly carried out exactly what Stroud had portrayed, however John decided that he himself would have to be very naive to believe anything coming out of Stroud’s mouth.

  After the bullshit, vanishing prisoner transfers, it seemed apparent that it didn’t matter what he wanted to be a more convenient truth. John just knew in his gut that Stroud was getting away with a cover-up, for now anyway. And there was no way in hell John could let Caroline know that their lives were now in the hands of a man he himself didn’t even trust, Derek’s. However, with the department releasing Caroline, Christopher and the twins to return home from the safe house, this man Derek seemed to be one of John’s only allies, and Derek had promised around the clock surveillance and protection for the now family of five. The fact that their lives were even more dependent on this unstable character was a bit disturbing though seemed John’s only choice at this point.

  “It is so good to be back home John,” Caroline called out as she closed the door to Kaitlin’s nursery. The twins each had their own room which was great since they seemed to be on very different schedules.

  “Yeah dad, and you guys did a great job getting the twins rooms ready. They look really cool,” Chris added.

  “Yeah, about that,” John quietly joked. “I think that you can give Alex and Kellar most of the credit for that. They kind of took over, and I was kind of glad. Although, I did pick out the football theme in Kaden’s room.”

  “They did a good job; I really need to thank them for everything,” Caroline whispered through a yawn.

  “Mom, why don’t you go and lay down for a while,” Christopher suggested. “Dad and I can handle things.”

  “Okay hun; thank you.” Caroline gave Christopher a hug and kissed John softly on the cheek before heading to the bedroom for a much needed rest.

  “She’s been really tired, Dad. I’m worried about her.”

  “Well, let’s just make sure that she gets plenty of sleep, we won’t wake her,” John smiled.

  “I’m just glad that school is out now so that I can help out a lot more. She doesn’t need to be pushing herself, Dad. With everything that happened, she’s still struggling dealing with all of it.”

  “Yeah,” John spoke quietly as they headed downstairs with the baby monitors in hand. “And you, how are you holding up?”

  “I’m just glad that you, mom, and the twins weren’t killed. I love you guys so much. I think I’ll be alright since you said that they caught the people. Mom’s been, well I don’t know?”

  “Having the twins would have taken a lot out of her by itself Chris. With what happened at the school that day as well… it will take some time to get mom back on her feet feeling like her old self again. You helping her out will definitely make that happen sooner.”

 
“Dad, I need to tell you something that I don’t think you know, but you can’t tell mom that I told you. I don’t want her to know that I know either. Something happened though after we got home yesterday.”

  “Shit, Chris what? You’re starting to scare me.”

  “Well, mom got a text. I picked up her phone to borrow it, and I noticed that she had gotten a text from someone that said ‘Let us know if you need someone to talk to again,’ I didn’t know the number it was listed from so I, well I looked it up. I put a search in on the computer and…”

  “And what Chris?” John whispered with dread in his voice.

  “It was Grandpa and Grandma Owens’ number. That’s who sent the text, Dad.”

  “What? Her parents? She’s been talking with her damn parents?” John felt panic in the back of his throat. Why the hell would she be talking to those bastards? She hadn’t spoken to them in years; hell she had cut ties with them before Christopher was even born. The only way Chris ever got the few cards he had over the years from his absent grandparents was that they had been sent to the police station. Even the amount of those odd well wishes could be counted on one hand. “Are you sure, Chris? Are you sure it was their number?”

  “Yeah, Dad,” Chris replied sadly. “I don’t understand it. And I guess from your reaction that she hasn’t said anything to you about it either. Maybe she just wanted to tell them about Kaitlin and Kaden, but that doesn’t make sense. ‘Let us know if you need someone to talk to again,’ doesn’t sound like just congratulations on the twins. It sounds like she was talking to them about being upset or something, like they had been having conversations.”

  “Yeah, it does. That’s really strange. I don’t know, maybe she’ll bring it up and talk to me about it later. I’ll just have to wait and see, I guess.” As they reached the downstairs basement, John sat down on the couch staring blankly across the room to his wedding picture on the wall, and wondering what was going on in the mind of the woman he loved.