Twelve years

Everytime I receive a new gig, my guy calls me before I talk directly to the client.  I had just finished my vacation after dealing with a long case involving a teenage boy and his friends. I really needed the time off, so I went to my cabin for a couple weeks to unwind. After two weeks I was definitely ready to take on a new case. 

    When I got home ,I had three new messages on my answering machine. 

    “First message, Chaz this is bonnie, where have you been i miss… *bleeep* message deleted, Second message, Chaz, it's Paul I have a new client for you, she said shes a family friend or something… *bleeep* message deleted. Third message, Dammit Chaz, don't delete this message, I need you to return my call.” As his last message played the phone rang. 

    “Hello?”

    “Finally! Are you back in the game yet, brother?” 

    “Yup, I am ready… I have my notebook in hand.” 

    “No brother, we need to meet in person for this one, can you meet me at Charlie’s on 10th at seven o’clock pm?” I looked down at my watch, five thirty. 

    “Uh, yeah.. Sure but I can't get wasted this evening.”

    “HAHA, you are telling me not to get drunk?” 

    “Okay, I will meet you at seven pm” 

    It was an unusual thing that paul would want to meet with me, usually it was for really bad brutal murder cases of children and elderly people. Basically, what I do is look at all of the information and evidence at a different point of view. Sometimes cops need an uninvolved eye, but for the most part the families hire us. 

I decided that I should probably take a shower before I met with him. I knew to treat these sorts of cases with due diligence and full respect. When I entered Charlies, the smell of booze and smoke hit me like a sauna. In the corner of the room, I could see Paul sitting at a table with a woman. I couldn’t make out her face in the heavy haze of darkness and smoke, but as I got closer my jaw hit the floor. It was my old middle school teacher from when I lived in phoenix growing up. 

“Mrs. Wright, is that you?” 

“Oh my goodness, Mr. Hall, look how handsome you are, it's so nice to see you again.” She didn't make eye contact with me but I could tell her health was a problem. She was very skinny and pale, wrinkled with patches of hair missing. I felt really bad, she quit teaching for awhile after her daughter went missing my senior year. 

“Hi there, I’m Tonya and I will be your server this evening. Can I get you something to drink, Sir? Also, any refills for the rest of your party?” 

“Sure, I will have a whiskey Sour please.” 

“I’m good,” Chimed in Paul. 

“Same” Mrs. Wright said. 

“So, Chaz, Monica wanted to meet you in person in hopes that maybe you will take on her case, indefinitely .” 

“Ya know, I’m not sure that i can help you.” 

“Chaz” Mrs. Wright never addressed me by my first name “ It is imperative that you take on my daughter's case. Everyone back in Phoenix is just ranting and raving about your success rate. Please do this for me, I will pay for all of your expenses, car, room and board.” 

“Okay Mrs…” 

“Please, Call me Monica” 

“Okay Monica, I will do my best.” I wanted to assure her that I would try even though I knew that I couldn't help her. 

“Thank you so much, Also, while you are in town you should see Rick, you two were inseparable all throughout school. Do you two still talk?” 

“Every now and again.” I lied. 

“He's been doing pretty well with his contractors business, besides all of that I know of at least a dozen people who would love to see you. “ 

“Thank you Mrs…” Her eyes got big. “I mean thank you, Monica, but I would rather that you didn't tell anyone that I am coming, because if the offender is someone that we both know, they might try and flee.” I looked up to see if she took that lie into consideration. The entire time that we spoke and reminisced about younger years, the more I thought about who killed her daughter. 

Monday morning came and I was still staring at my bedroom ceiling thinking about when Mrs. Wright's daughter went missing. The whole town came out to look for her. I was just graduating and moving to Maryland where I reside now. Two days before I boarded my flight little Leslie’s body was found in an abandoned warehouse that mysteriously caught fire. The cops were led straight to her body. I wasn’t fond of going back to Paradise Valley, it has been twelve years since I had returned or seen/ spoke to my best friend Rick.  

Paul went ahead and booked my plane, rental car and motel based upon the money that was given to him by Monica. I left that following afternoon and made it to Paradise about seven o’clock pm. I settled into my hotel room after taking a well deserved shower. I decided to crack open Leslies case file to see what was actually in there. 

Leslie Rae Wright, age twelve, cause of death- strangulation with a towel. Fibers were found in her throat. Bruises on her forearms, lesions on her thighs indicate she was bound with her legs open also suspicion of rape. No DNA found. 

I slammed the case file shut and tossed it back on the table. I went over to the mini fridge and took out a mini bottle of whiskey and downed it. 

“What am I doing here!” I yelled out. “ Why are you here, Chaz? WHY!” I went back to the mini fridge and grabbed another mini bottle of whiskey and downed it. I threw the bottle up against the wall * smash* I fell to the floor and put my head in my hands until I heard a knock at the door. 

“Sir, this is the front desk, the other guests heard a loud crash and they wanted to make sure that you are doing okay. The lobby kept knocking on the door until I answered it and peered my head outside the door. 

“I am so sorry, i tripped and fell into the wall.” he gazed around the room and asked me again if i was alright before he closed the door and left. I closed the door and plopped myself off the bed letting my feet dangle off the side. 

I should have never taken this case.

I grabbed my phone from the night stand and began looking to see if I had Rick's old number. The phone rang and rang and with every ring I felt a little more relief, until what I thought was the voicemail was him answering the phone. 

    “Hello?” 

I panicked. 

    “Hello? Is anyone there?” Right before he was about to hang up I said “ Rick?” 

    “Who is this?” 

    “Is this Rick O’Donald? 

    “Who wants to know?”

    “Rick, it's Chaz…..” 

    I don't know any Chaz '' click. He hung up on me. 

Well, that went well.  I figured there wasn't much more that I could do tonight so I went to bed. 

    The next morning I woke up to fifteen missed calls all from rick. I shot up in the bed to see if there were any messages, but not a single one. 

Who the heck calls that many times and doesn't leave a message. 

I decided to make myself a cup of coffee and go back to reviewing her case file before I went to check out the abandoned building that was still abandoned. 

Suspects, Neighbor Mr. Gomez. Was at home that night, always hated the girl. Mother- cannot prove exactly where she was that night. Claims that she was at work late and had to run some errands afterward. Babysitter- states that the girl went upstairs to bed. She assumed that Leslie was asleep. No Connection or motive to be seen. Ruled out. 

Then i said the next one out loud “ Ricardo O’Donald, neighborhood boy who seemed to take interest in the girl. Parents and neighbors state that the girl reminded him of his sister Chloe who died tragically in a beach accident while vacationing on the coast. 

I did not know that he even had a sister. Interesting. 

Looking at my phone I had another four missed calls from Rick. This time he left me a message. 

“Meet me at PohPohs , it's a bar and grille down next to the Paradise mall on Henderson way. I get off work at three, I can meet you at four. Don't be late. “ Click. He didn’t say anything else. I looked at my watch and realized that it was a quarter past eleven and i still had a few things i needed to do before i met him for lunch. This was such an usual case for me, i wasn't really sure where to start so i decided to call up Mrs. Wright to see if she wanted to meet for a one on one. 

She answered almost immediately “ Hello?”

    “Mrs. Wright?” 

    “Please Chaz, it's Monica.”

“I apologize, old habits die hard.” She laughed 

“I was wondering if i could meet with you one on one, i just have a couple of questions.” 

“Sure, but please don't judge me for my home, it's been in such disarray lately. 

“Of course not, I will see you in about fifteen minutes.” 

“See you soon.” 

I was about to get ready to leave when I remembered that Mr. Gomez still lived next door. I could go see Mrs. Wright and then pop over to Mr Gomez and interview him also. Kill two birds with one stone. I stopped at the coffee shop in the lobby of my hotel and got myself and Mrs. Wright a white mocha. I recall in middle school Mrs. Wright’s science class was in the morning and she always drank a white mocha. When I approached her home I noticed that Mr. Gomez’s car was in his driveway and he was working out in the yard. When I left my car I threw my hand up waving at him but he ignored me. I knocked on the door and she answered promptly. 

    “Hello Chaz , it's always nice to see you.” I handed her the coffee and she looked at it and smiled. “Oh my gosh, thank you, you are too much. So, What can I do for you? 

    “I just have a couple of questions and then I am going to talk to Mr. Gomez. I see that he still lives next door? 

    “Oh yes. Absolutely. He has been a real doll through all of this. We have a very close relationship now, i tell him everything” 

    “That's strange, the file says that Mr. Gomez hated your daughter?” 

    “Listen Chaz, i'm not going to make my daughter out to be a princess because she wasn't. She was a mouthy little girl who got in trouble all the time. She wasn't a peach, she did things to torment Mr. Gomez.” 

    “When you say torment, what exactly do you mean? “ She swallowed hard and then replied “Mr. Gomez used to grow award winning roses, Leslie left her bike outside and Mr. Gomez hit it with his car, so Leslie snuck out in the middle of the night and cut all of his prize winning flowers and laid them to rest on his front lawn in a circle around her bicycle. “ 

    “Wow.” I didn't know what to say about it. 

    “It was bad, he wanted to take us to court, but I convinced him not to.” She smirked. I didn’t really want to know how she convinced him not to. I left that one alone. 

    “Okay Monica, I think that I have all that I need from you right now.” 

    “Great! That was really easy. Do you think you have a fighting chance in this case?” 

    “I’ve got your back on this one.” I gave her a reassuring smile. 

    Before I left to go meet with Rick I noticed that Mr. Gomez had gone into his house but luckily the car was still outside so I was determined to speak with him. I knocked on his door and he just cracked the door. 

    “Get the fuck off my porch HALL!” He slammed the door shut. He started me and I jumped backwards as a consequence. 

Weird. 

By the time I left Mrs. Wright's house and Mr. Gomez’s porch it was almost time for me to meet with Rick. I got in my car and I noticed I had a text message from him stating he wants to meet me right now. I texted back my eta and left for the grille. 

The bar and grille was completely dead except for a couple day drinkers. Rick was near the back patio door with his back turned to me. I walked over and sat down at the booth in front of him. He almost immediately started talking. 

    “What are you doing here!?” He asked angrily. 

    “I was hired by Mrs. Wright to…” He interrupted “ YOU were HIRED by Mrs. Wright. Are you fucking crazy!?” 

    “I couldn’t help it.” 

    “Yes you could have. Why are you here, chaz?” He annoyingly asked me again. 

    “I just told you, I am doing what I get paid for, i review murders to try to bring light to who may have committed the crime.” 

    “Stop talking. Let's go outside. I need to smoke.” Simultaneously we both stood up and walked out the back patio door. Rick fumbled with his cigarette pack and then with both hands shaking he lit the cigarette. 

    “What's wrong with you, man?” Concerned, I asked. 

    “You know why. How dare you come back after TWELVE ….LONG….YEARS to play the goddamn hero that you have portrayed yourself to be…. YOU killed that girl and then left me to be interrogated for murder!” 

    “Oh no fucker! WE did that, and I’m the smart one, I took on this case to throw the heat off of both of us!” As soon as those words left my lips, Rick smiled at me. It wasn’t a happy smile but a Cheshire cat. He unbuttoned his shirt and there lay a wire taped to his chest. 

    “You fucking trader!” I lunged at him full force but two undercover cops grabbed me by my arms and tackled me to the ground. It all happened so fast. Then from the corner of my eye I see Mrs. Wright walk onto the patio. She mocked me, “ don’t worry chaz, I’ve got your back on this.” 

In Court Ricardo O’Donald made this statement to Chaz Hall : 

“ For twelve years, I was investigated by the police, questioned and probed. No matter what I did , I could not get work. My reputation was shot, even though the police had cleared me. However, the public did not and for good reason. I have lived with this in my heart for a really long time. I've had ulcers, sickness, insomnia and mental health issues ever since that night. I wanted to die and I finally did what I should have done years ago. I broke into her home one evening before she came home from work. I had one bullet in my pistol and I was waiting for her to come in and turn the light on. I told her that Leslie and I were playing catch the night before, she wanted to try out for the softball team so she wanted my help. She was like a sister to me. I looked out for her and she was my friend. I had told her that I was going out with you later and for some reason she took it as an invitation and snuck out . I had no idea she was going to sneak out. She followed me to the dried up crick where we used to hang out and smoke weed. She came running in right after we lit up a joint and you had a few beers. You said, if she wanted to be a big girl she had to act like a big girl, you made her get high. It was her first time. I left for a minute to use the bush as a bathroom, when i came back you had her bound to your car with a rope and you were raping her. I jumped on your back and pulled you away from her but then you shoved me and I hit my head. Disoriented, I noticed you went to your car and got a towel from the trunk. She was crying and said she was going to tell so you smothered her with that towel. She fought you so hard and I was so scared I just watched you kill someone I loved. You yelled at me to help you or you were going to kill my mother. I believed you and did what you said to do. Her body went limp and you just laughed while I held her lifeless body and cried. I hate you and I hate myself but what I hate more is how you put this on me. Obviously, I didn't kill myself. Mrs. Wright convinced me not to that night. Instead we came after you. Welcome back, my friend, it was great to see you.``