by Laura Greene
Tina grabs the phone and tries to call Amy, with no response. “We need to find her. I want to make sure she’s okay.”
With her phone now back in service, several messages ping and Nick jokes about how her phone notifications almost blew his surprise entry earlier. Then, a call from Barnes comes in.
“Agent James, you are harder to catch than a serial killer manhunt.”
“Don’t remind me of those Barnes.”
“Oh, rough day huh? Listen, I have some news for you. That car my men found parked outside your home had local plates. The registration shows it belongs to A. Clark. I’m waiting for my guys to pull up the image right now.”
Tina is incredibly relieved to hear that the car is local. Her mind is eased of the suspicion that The Gangs of Boston may be after her.
She recalls Dale telling her that they were all captured and imprisoned in a raid. She was there; she knows this; but, she can never be too careful as a detective. Considering how quickly she picked up an enemy locally, Tina’s pretty sure she had good reason to presume The Gangs of Boston were behind her home invasion.
“Oh, here it is. I’m sending it to you now. It’s a Prius.”
“Prius? What color?”
“Black.”
“Thanks, Barnes. You may have just saved the day.”
“All in a day’s work partner.”
They hang up and before she opens the image, Tina makes a call.
“Aren’t you going to see who it belongs to?” Nick asks.
“No need. Hi!” Tina starts her phone conversation. “Ella, how are you doing?” She waits for a response and hears Mrs Conwell greet her in the background. “Good, good. Uh… no, we have not found the person yet, but I think tonight is the night. Listen, I need to confirm something with you really quickly. Why did the voices tell you to go to the tower?”
She tells her it’s because it was the highest point in the area.
“Highest point… hmmm… Just as I thought. Thanks, Ella. Bye now.” She hangs up the phone, then turns to Nick, “Where is the highest building in the area?”
“Uh…” he pauses to think briefly, “it would have to be the observatory. It’s not too far from downtown.”
“Can you take me there?”
“Sure!” Nick and Tina run to her car, parked on Bellevue Ave.
While she drives, she catches a glimpse of Nick’s shoes, out of the corner of her eye, and she giggles.
“What’s so funny?” Nick asks, looking around him.
Now, Tina is laughing out loud. “Please don’t tell me you’re wearing house slippers.” She says in-between spurts of laughter. “Did you really get kidnapped in your house slippers?”
“What? Oh, sorry I didn’t get a chance to ask my kidnapper if I could put on my three-piece suit.”
“It’s just funny that’s all. Actually, it’s one of the main reasons I knew that something was very wrong. Your brown shoes were still in your apartment.”
Nick reaches for her hand and squeezes it. “You always know the right thing to say.” They laugh, and for a time, the intensity of the situation tones down.
“How did you find Charlie’s mom?” Tina inquires.
“It wasn’t easy at first.”Nick readjusts in his seat. “Like you, I was suspecting the whole school. I didn’t know who I could trust and I kept asking myself what I was doing here. Then I heard an old friend of mine from school had started Mayweather & Co. Detective Agency. I called Jessy the following week and she said her records showed Janet Branning’s connection to Charlie was the biggest anomaly in the case so far. Turn right up here.”
“Sure.” Tina takes the following right turn. The streets are familiar to her now, but she is still not confident getting around town. Then, she asks, “Did she also know about the cult?”
“Yes, it was on some P.I. database that she had access to, so I didn’t even go and meet Janet. I thought Charlie, being the standup guy that he is, would tell me himself. Rookie mistake, I guess.” He looks down, embarrassed.
Tina reaches over to Nick, making sure she keeps her eyes on the road and rubs his thigh reassuringly, “You didn’t know honey.”
From half a mile away, Tina can see the large dome of the observatory; this is where the biggest telescope in the building resides. She has not been inside, but she drove by it a few times and saw the telescope through an extraordinarily big, glass window in the front.
What she likes about it is, it’s just on the outskirts of downtown, away from most of the bright lights and almost hidden from sight with its surrounding bushes and small botanical garden. It can feel like one has left the town without driving too far. The peace and quiet of the observatory site is one of the reasons why she added it to her ever-growing bucket list. Perhaps, that’s what her culprit also found enticing about this location.
When they arrive at Newport Observatory, it’s quiet. Any other night, she would call it peaceful, but tonight it is eerily quiet.
There is a car parked outside of the front doors, and it’s not the security guard’s car either; it’s a black Prius with the same plates Barnes mentioned.
Looking around the botanical garden surrounding the observatory, Tina wonders if the offender may have made use of the small forestry around as a hiding place. She makes a plan with Nick for him to stay near the car while she checks if someone is at the top.
They suddenly hear a click sound from the top of the building.
“FBI!” Tina shouts, hoping to interrupt whatever action is about to commence. “Nick, we need to get up there quickly.” Then, she remembers, “Oh, I forgot they observe holiday hours. Is there another way up?”
He takes her to the back of the building where there is a fire escape. They immediately climb up and arrive at the scene of the crime.
“Charlie!” Tina says, while trying to catch her breath. “What are you doing?” She looks around, “Where’s Amy?”
Charlie’s standing at the edge of the ledge. He is trembling, but his face shows he is resolute to jump. Tina takes painstaking caution to not make any sudden moves as she approaches him.
“Don’t move!” Charlie screams. He is inching closer to the edge, and Tina squints her eyes in tantalizing trepidation.
If he takes one more step, there will be nothing but air between him and the ground. Her heart is pounding loudly, He just might jump, she thinks unable to take her eyes off the impending doom before her.
Chapter 5
“Okay, okay!” Tina shouts just in time. “Can you at least tell me what happened?”
“What are you talking about?” Charlie says, he is paranoid, looking behind him, and panting with eyes wide ajar. He is standing on the ledge, trembling.
“I talked to your mom, Charlie. Her name is Jan...”
“Don’t mention that woman’s name to me. I can’t stand her.”
“She told me everything.” Slowly, Tina takes a step towards Charlie, during one of his glances at the long drop behind him. Nick remains by the steps, unsure if his unexpected arrival will alarm Charlie and push him over the edge or calm the situation. He dips his head lower, to avoid being spotted.
“It’s all a lie, I hope you didn’t believe her.” Charlie defends himself.
“Why don’t you tell me what really happened then?”
Charlie hesitates to share, at first. Then he says, “It all started with my father.”
Tina can see that Charlie has taken a step away from the ledge as he tells his story. His footing is now more stable, which calms Tina’s heart. She listens.
“My father was a good man detective; I want you to know that. You see, my parents were happy when I was a child. They had a good marriage. But then, my father got sick.”
Tina sees Charlie lower his head as he recalls a very painful memory. He is so enthralled in the story he is telling that he fails to see her looking around to make sure there is no imminent danger. When she suffices the area clear of harm, accomplices or traps, Tina returns
to her compassionate listening stance.
“He didn’t know he was sick, so the things he did to… I don’t hold the bad things he did against him. He would go to meetings, where some people took advantage of his mind and taught him to do some bad things to people.” Charlie’s eyes wince with agony as his body responds by hunching over. He sits on the edge of the ledge to steady himself.
Though Tina wants to go and assist him, she stops in her tracks to prevent further agitating Charlie. She is now standing halfway between Nick and Charlie and she wants to hear the whole story.
If for any reason she cannot save Charlie, the least she can do is gather the truth to bring solace to the suffering parents of the girls who died at his hand. So far, the story Charlie is telling is coinciding with what Janet disclosed to Tina.
“He didn’t mean to harm anyone, he would just snap every once in a while at my mother. I blame her for not staying. I would hear him change and it worried me, but I knew deep down he meant well. But, she left him, she left us!”
“Why do you think she left Charlie?” Tina interjects hoping to help him focus on the story not his anger at his mother.
“When things got worse, we moved from Wyoming and I thought yes! Things will finally change for the better. But my mother didn’t go. She didn’t even come after us. We were all alone, my sick father and I. He finally told me the truth though.” Charlie’s voice trails off into a quiet whisper.
“What did he say?”
“He told me that she was the reason we had to leave. Her infidelity drove us away and if she did not change, we would have been in trouble also. He said her kind of evil had to be rid off from the world.” He starts to snicker to himself then chuckles with heavy morbidity.
Stepping back involuntarily, Tina senses Charlie is unhinged and deeply disturbed. He has not stammered once since she met him on that rooftop. This dastardly state of mind is his comfort zone, she thinks.
“What he did not know is that I listened to their last conversation together. I remember it like it was yesterday. I woke up in the middle of the night, thirsty and in need of a drink of water. When I heard them yelling, I decided to wait upstairs and watch. I was sitting on the top of the stairs, when I heard him tell her exactly what she needed to do to atone for her sins. That was the moment I knew what I wanted to do to make The Judge proud.”
“Who?”
“My father, his name was The Judge; and in one night I learned everything I needed to know about the family business. My father was twenty-nine when he started, so I waited until I was twenty-nine.”
Tina cannot stomach the thought of how warped Charlie must be to inflict torment on those girls, but first, she wants to know the rest of the story.
“What happened when you moved to Newport?”
“When we moved to Newport, my father had to start all over again with no help from that woman.”
Tina has heard about all she can of him bad-mouthing his mother. She holds back telling him off to hear the rest of the story.
“He started a touring company and became very wealthy. That’s when we discovered he had a rare form of early on-set schizophrenia. It was difficult to detect because it’s controlled and triggered by moral stance.”
“You mean, the voices in his head told him to push your mom to take her life because of his moral stance at the time?”
“Exactly. And he was a man of honor, so he obeyed. When we learned about his condition, he was admitted. I didn’t have anyone to take care of me, so his ward nurse, who later became my step-mom, took me in and helped The Judge get out of there. After a while, the voices got worse and unfortunately turned on him. They told him he needed to atone for his sin of not finishing the job with his ex-wife.”
“So, because your birth mother didn’t take her life like he told her to, the voices told him he now had to commit suicide?” Tina, though still young herself, is now seeing how overwhelmingly detrimental mental health issues can be. It is a serious issue.
Unfortunately, this is an area of her training in the force, that she did not get much preparation for.
“It was right here, on this observatory, that he did it. My step-mom said she tried to stop him, but he was too far gone.”
Already, several red flags and questions are popping into Tina’s mind, so she asks, “I still don’t get one thing, why did you go after Nick?”
“My father headed those tours through the mansions and I would run around, hide in secret hideouts and learn my way around the whole town.”
“Is that how you trapped Nick and left him to die in there?”
“He was a religious leader. It was his responsibility to make sure those girls were chastised for their actions. But, he said nothing.
Nick shuffles uncomfortably on the stairwell. He has not yet forgotten the distress he experienced in that mansion.
“So, you became The Judge. Instead of going to the police like every other person, you saw your opportunity to pass judgment on the girls who slept with the tutor. And I know how you did it too.” Tina walks with determination towards Charlie who stands up threatening to climb onto the ledge again. She stops, then says, “You knew that the cameras would spot you going to torment those girls, so you took to the vents where no one could see you. Night after night, you were vindictively manipulating them into jumping off that tower, a sadistic plan to carry out your own vengeance on the world.”
“No!” Charlie screams. “It was the voices! I didn’t want to do it, but they made me do it. And now. they’re coming after me for not finishing off Ella.”
Tina can see that he is also suffering from the same form of schizophrenia as his father. “Is that why you’re up here?”
“Yes, it’s the only way I can make them stop.”
“But Charlie, there has to be another way. You need professional help Charlie and if you will let me, I can help you get it.”
“No, it won’t work. The Judge tried that already. Now, I’m going to join him.” He says as he stands tall to lift his foot onto the ledge. “It’s the only way. That’s what she told me.”
“Who?”
“My step-mom.” He is holding his head, swaying back and forth. “Please! You have to believe me, I didn’t want to do it.”
“Okay! Okay.” Tina lowers her body to show that she is not there to harm him and extends her hand forward to help Charlie. She only has a few more steps before she reaches him. She wants to know, Who is this nurse turned step-mom and what is she after? So, as she rises up again, then asks, “Tell me, who is your step-mom Charlie?”
Just then, a shot is fired and it narrowly misses Tina’s ear, but it was actually meant for Charlie and it hits him directly between his eyebrows. With one swoosh, he falls back to his death.
Tina dives forward to catch him, but the suddenness of the gunshot and the blood splattering in her face makes her flinch and slows down her reaction time. When she reaches her hand out to Charlie, it is too late.
Charlie has fallen. A thud at the bottom of the building confirms it.
Chapter 6
“Never send a man to do a woman’s job.” A familiar voice says from behind Tina. She knows this voice. “If you’d learned this Tina, you wouldn’t be in the mess you’re in now.”
She turns around. It is Amy. She has her arm wrapped around Nick, and he is arrested in a choke-hold. Her gun is pointing at Nick. Tina quickly reaches for her gun and unclips her holster.
“Uh-uh! Don’t even think about it or he gets it.” Amy cocks the gun. “Did you think you could hide him on the stairs without me knowing? I saw you climbing up here. Slide that gun to me now.”
“Alright, I’m getting the gun and sliding it to you now.” Tina takes her gun out of the holster slowly and slides it on the ground.
Amy walks Nick to the gun and she kicks it out of reach.
Tina can see that Nick is terrified. As a man of God, he probably hasn’t had a gun pointed at his head many times. She looks for a plan, but right
now, Amy has all the shots. Remembering how she cleared the premise earlier, though it was not thoroughly, Tina wonders how she missed Amy.
As though knowing the exact question on Tina’s mind, Amy says, “I was behind that barrel there. If you hadn’t walked towards Charlie and left your boyfriend here as prey, I might still be hiding. You just gave me the upper hand detective.” She waves the gun in the air and smiles with satisfaction that her plan is going well.
“Why, Amy? He’s your step-son.”
“I just couldn’t stand hearing that sob story again. Let me tell you, the apple does not fall far from the tree. His father cried out for help the same way he did and I thought he was never going to jump.” She pauses to roll her eyes and let out a groaning sound, “In the end he did.”
