by James Hunt
“Jim?” Kelly asked again. “What’s wrong?”
“Where did you get that phone?” Jim asked.
“My phone?” Kelly asked, confused as she looked down at the device. “Um, my son gave it to me for Christmas last year. What does that have to do with anything?”
Jim turned back toward the family picture and removed it from the wall. “This is your son? Here?” Jim pointed.
“Yes, that’s Charlie. What is going on, Jim?” Kelly was growing more concerned.
Jim studied his biological mother, looking for any signs that she was also making the connection Jim had just made. Her surprise and concern were genuine, and he believed she didn’t know.
“Where is your son now?” Jim asked.
“Um, he’s at home,” Kelly answered.
“What does he do for work?” Jim asked, trying not to sound too abrasive.
“He–he works for some tech company based in Europe, but he works remotely here in Seattle—Jim, where are you going?” Kelly ran after him toward the door and followed him all the way out to his car.
Jim climbed into the vehicle and then reached for the radio on his dash. He still had the photograph in his hand. “This is Detective North. I need information and current address on a Charlie Rawlins.”
“Copy that, Detective. Do you have anything else you can tell us about him?” Dispatch asked.
Jim looked up at Kelly, and he saw the horror on her face. But he needed to push through it. “What’s Charlie’s social security number? Do you remember it?”
“I do, but what is going on, Jim?” Kelly asked, starting to cry. “Tell me why you need to speak to Charlie.”
Jim held her gaze, and the longer they stared at one another, the more certain Jim was that she understood.
“No,” Kelly said, shaking her head. “No, it can’t be him. It can’t be.”
“I need the number, Kelly,” Jim said. “The more we know about him, the easier it will be when we finally bring him in.”
Kelly stifled a moan and then collapsed onto the grass. Jim got out of the car, leaving the radio behind, and held his mother.
“Oh my God,” Kelly said, sobbing. “No, no, no.”
“Detective, we have a possible address for you when you’re ready,” Dispatch said, the voice echoing from the vehicle.
Jim reached for the radio, but Kelly stopped him. She looked up, tears in her eyes. “I know where he’s at.”
22
After Kelly managed to calm down a little bit, Jim confiscated the phone from her and logged it into evidence. He didn’t want to try anything on it because he wasn’t sure what the Broker, or Charlie, had done to it.
And he wanted to make sure Kelly didn’t try to call Charlie to warn him. But for all Jim knew, Charlie had cameras in the house and was watching this unfold before his very eyes. Jim already knew how savvy the Broker was when it came to technology, and with the way he had always been ahead of the game, playing Jim and the entire law enforcement field like a fiddle, Jim feared that was what was happening now.
All Jim could do was focus on what he could control, and right now, all he could control was gathering information.
Jim didn’t want to pit Kelly against her own son, so he called Missy and asked her to dig up anything she could find on the man. Just as she always did, she delivered beautifully.
“Okay,” Missy said. “I’ve already sent you an email with the information I found, all of it compiled neatly into one document, but I’ll go over the highlights with you that I thought were most interesting.”
“Let’s hear it,” Jim said.
“Charlie Rawlins is currently twenty-two years old and works for tech conglomerate Saagar Solutions,” Missy said. “He’s worked there for less than a year, but he is one of their highest-paid employees, specializing in cybersecurity for the financial and defense sectors.”
“So he’s good with computers,” Jim said.
Missy let out a single “ha” before she spoke again. “Yeah, you could say that. He graduated from MIT with his master’s in Information Systems, where he was at the top of his class. He was considered a bit of a prodigy ever since he was younger and had a full ride to MIT at sixteen.”
“So he’s really good with computers,” Jim said.
“I’ve looked for any other properties he might have, but it looks like the only place he owns is a house in northeast Seattle,” Missy said. “Bellevue area.”
“He’s paid well,” Jim said. “Good job, strong tech education, and locally based.”
“Not to mention straight, white, and male,” Missy said. “He checks all of the boxes, Jim.”
Jim glanced over at Kelly, who was sitting quietly on the couch. She looked like she was on the verge of tears, but she had looked like that for the past twenty minutes. It was a lot for anyone to take in, especially after just meeting the son she had given away over twenty-five years ago.
“Anything else you found that’s noteworthy?” Jim asked.
“Nothing that stood out,” Missy answered. “Have you called it in yet?”
Jim continued to look at Kelly. “I’m going to do that right now but keep this information to yourself. The lieutenant will come and find you when it’s time.”
“Okay,” Missy said.
Jim ended the call, dreading telling Kelly what came next.
“I always worried about him,” Kelly said, wiping her nose, her voice nasally and congested. “He was always by himself, always enjoyed being alone. But I thought it was because he was smart.” She looked at Jim and forced a smile. “He was such a good boy, Jim.”
Jim walked over to Kelly and sat down next to her. The last thing he wanted to do was sever what little connection they had made with each other. But it was like Kelly had said, he always reverted back to the job, just like she did.
“Are you going to hurt him?” Kelly asked timidly.
“Not if I don’t have to,” Jim answered.
“Maybe if you let me call him and just talk to him—”
Jim held Kelly’s hands, the scars from his palms rough against her skin. “I can’t let you do that. He’s hurt a lot of people, Kelly. And he needs to pay for the crimes he’s committed.”
Kelly sobbed, but she nodded. “Just… try not to hurt him. He’s always been so fragile; ever since I can remember, he’s always just wanted to be left alone. I thought he was just a late bloomer. I thought if I gave him space, he would turn it around.”
“It wasn’t your fault,” Jim said.
“I think it might be,” Kelly said. “I mean, I didn’t raise you, and you turned out so wonderful. But my time with Charlie… I must have done something wrong.”
Jim didn’t have time to get into a debate over nature versus nurture, but when the officer arrived to relieve Jim and keep an eye on Kelly, he stood to leave.
“I wish things could have been different,” Jim said, “in a lot of ways.”
“Me too,” Kelly said.
No goodbyes were shared. Jim simply nodded and then left, instructing the officer to keep Kelly in the house and make sure she didn’t make any calls or send any messages.
Jim figured she would try to do something. After all, a mother was supposed to protect their children. Except for when they didn’t.
Jim knew that prolonging the inevitable was only going to make things worse, so he made the call to Mullocks. “Lieutenant, I found him.” It was better to rip off the Band-Aid quickly.
Of all the things Charlie had seen and heard on the dark web, all of the terrible things he heard people do to one another, none of them pained him. He had thought that made him a psychopath. He had believed that maybe he was one for a long time but had never admitted it to himself.
But now, hearing his mother talk about him as if he were something sick and vile, he felt the first twinge of pain enter his heart. He had never bled before, not like this. He wasn’t sure how it was supposed to make him feel, but the rage that filled him was unlik
e anything he’d ever known before.
The audacity of his own mother to talk about him so openly and freely to a stranger! Charlie clenched his fists and pounded them feebly on his keyboard. He had never been strong or fast, but he had always been smart. And his intelligence had kept him ten steps ahead of everyone his entire life.
But it had been stupid to give his mother the same model phone as the other victims. Of course, Jim would have gone to see their mother eventually. Charlie had been watching Jim long enough to make that connection. It was a foolish oversight, but it wasn’t the end.
Charlie had hoped he had more time before Jim closed in on him. He never thought he would be able to do this forever, but he still had so much more to accomplish.
But nevertheless, Charlie understood it was time to move onto his contingency. He had strung Jim along this far, but now it was time to reveal himself and make himself known to everyone who doubted him.
Including his mother.
Jen pulled off of her gloves and tossed them into the hazardous waste bucket. She washed her hands and decided that she’d finish the final paperwork on her last body in the morning. With no criminal investigation pending the death and the family notified that it was indeed a heart attack that had killed their patriarch, Jen knew it could wait.
And she wasn’t sure if she was in the right mind to finish the work without any mistakes. She needed dinner, she needed a shower, and she needed a good night’s sleep.
But what Jen needed more than anything was to see Jim. She wanted him back in the house, back in their bed, back with her.
It had been difficult waking up in that house alone. And after having such a good, long stretch in their relationship, navigating these rocky shores was unfamiliar to her.
But the fact that she was still sticking it out revealed something to her about the relationship. Everyone she had ever dated before, whenever things took a turn for the worse, she always ended the relationship. It had never been worth it to her to stick around. But it was now.
Jen looked back at the body that lay still on her examining table. As a coroner, she always took great care and respect whenever she was working with a cadaver. Because she knew there had been life left behind and that life had impacted others, people who were grieving over the loss of a friend, a brother, father, husband.
It was a connection that lived on even after death through the people they had left behind. With all of the death Jen had seen over the years, all of the pain she had seen others experience, a lot of people thought she might be callous and hateful toward the world.
People were always surprised to see her so chipper and friendly, a bundle of energy and joy. It wasn’t because she was a sadist or anything like that. It was because her job made her appreciate life. It made her realize just how precious the time people had on this earth really was because it moved by so quickly.
And not everyone had the same amount of time.
Jen walked back out to her car, and she sat behind the wheel for a minute, dreading going back to the empty house. She had been so excited to move in with Jim, to have someone to come home to at the end of the day, to really share her life with. A partner in the truest sense of the word.
But they hadn’t been good partners for each other lately, and Jen knew she didn’t want this kind of life to continue for herself. She wanted something more, and she wanted Jim to be that something.
But life was never fair. It didn’t care about the things you wanted. Life simply marched on, and the only options a person had were hanging on or letting go. Relationships were kind of the same way. And Jen wasn’t ready to let go of hers with Jim just yet.
“He just needs a little more time,” Jen said, starting the car. “I can wait a little bit longer.”
It was worth it for Jen, and as she pulled out onto the road to head home, she turned up the radio and belted out her favorite Whitney Houston song.
Jen was so distracted by the music that she didn’t notice the car that had been following her since she left work. It was late, and the pair of headlights behind her could have been anyone’s. When she pulled into the neighborhood where traffic was light, it wasn’t until her steering wheel locked up that she realized something was wrong.
Jen’s arms grew rigid as she held the steering wheel. She tried to hit the brakes, but those were also malfunctioning, along with the radio and the car’s lights.
She hadn’t been going faster than thirty-five, but with no control over the vehicle, it was still more than enough speed for her to crash into a light post with significant force.
The airbags erupted after the crash, smacking Jen in the face. Stunned from the sudden impact, Jen sat there for a moment and checked herself, searching for any areas of damage. Aside from the jolt from the collision, she thought she was fine. She unbuckled her seatbelt, and when she opened the door, there was a hand there ready to grab her.
At first, Jen thought it must have been someone from one of the homes nearby who had seen her accident. But then she smelled the chloroform, and once it was over her mouth, she had zero time to react and fight back.
23
Officers and the SWAT team arrived at Charlie Rawlins’s home before Jim got there, and Jim was disappointed not to find Charlie at his residence.
When Jim entered the house, he expected to find clear evidence that suggested Charlie Rawlins was the disturbed individual Jim had believed he was, but it didn’t take long for him to see how normal the home looked.
More often than not, when Jim entered the residences of pedophiles and abductors, there were always clues to the suspect’s sick infliction. But Jim and the rest of the team who had invaded the small two-bedroom, one-bath home that was no larger than most apartments found nothing to indicate anything abnormal. It was a typical bachelor pad, with not much furniture or decoration. The entire house was clean and orderly, with a minimalist approach to everything.
The only pictures Jim found in the house were that of Charlie’s family. There were photographs of his mother and him, with his sisters, and one with his father. Jim picked up one of the pictures of just Charlie and his mother.
Kelly Rawlins was planting a big kiss on Charlie’s cheek in the photograph. Charlie looked completely disgusted with the entire ordeal.
Jim was a different mix of emotions. He had thought this could be one good thing for him, one positive, impactful thing he could salvage after so many tragedies in his life. But nothing was ever that simple.
All Jim wanted was to have a piece of his biological past that wasn’t marked by something darker, like it had been with his biological father.
“Jim,” Mullocks said, poking her head out from down the hall. “We found something.”
Jim returned the photograph of Kelly and Charlie back to the wall and followed the lieutenant down into the basement.
“Looks like we found where he’s been doing his work,” Mullocks said.
While there might not have been any of the usual signs of a monster in the main section of the house, the basement was another story. Downstairs looked like a small server warehouse, with servers stacked along the walls and a six-screen monitor set up at a desk.
“These were the servers he’d been using to conceal his location,” Mullocks said, who had also made it on scene. “Some of our techs think they’ve already been wiped, but they’re going to take them apart and see what they can find inside.”
Jim walked over to the desk where Charlie had sat and helped coordinate the abduction of twelve children, the first resulting in death.
“He sat right here,” Jim said, touching the seatback. “He brought so much pain to so many families, all from the comfort of an ergonomically correct chair.” Jim tightened his grip on the chair’s back, and then without warning, he picked it up and slammed it onto the floor.
“Jim!” Mullocks shouted.
Everyone else in the room froze, and Jim stared down at the chair, which hadn’t even cracked. He resisted the urge to pic
k it up again and throw it against the wall. It wouldn’t do any good, but as he turned his attention to the computer screens, he thought that if he broke all of them, it might make him feel better.
“Jim,” Mullocks said sternly. “Let’s take a walk—now.”
The computer screens were turned off, and Jim caught his reflection on the black screen. He saw his anger, the same anger he had felt when he was just a boy, alone and abandoned. How was it that he had come this far but still felt like he had all of those years ago?
“Jim,” Mullocks grabbed his arm, “let’s go.”
This time Jim allowed Mullocks to lead him out of the basement, leaving the forensic team to do their work. Mullocks led Jim all the way out of the house and then stopped in the small front yard. Outside, Jim was able to breathe again and his head cleared.
“I’m sorry,” Jim said.
“You’ve pushed yourself too far, Jim,” Mullocks said. “You need to take a break.”
Jim shook his head. “He’s been in Seattle this whole time.”
Mullocks looked over at Jim and chose her next words carefully. “Jim, with your proximity to the case and the revelation about your biological mother—”
“You’re not taking me off this,” Jim said, stiffening. “I have been working this case from the very beginning.”
“I know you have,” Mullocks said, sounding as sweet as possible, “but you have a lot going on right now, and the last thing you need—”
“Don’t,” Jim said.
“—is added stress with so many moving parts,” Mullocks said.
Jim couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Tell the captain I’m fine. You know I am.”
“It wasn’t the captain’s decision, Jim,” Mullocks said. “It was mine.”
If Jim hadn’t been so exhausted, the betrayal would have been more intense. Or it could have been the fact that deep down, Jim understood where Mullocks was coming from. He had run himself ragged over the past three months. Between reaching out to his mother, the revelation that the Broker was his half-brother, Kerry in the hospital, and his relationship with Jen on the rocks, Jim knew he had more on his plate than he was prepared to handle.
