Aunt Kim

"Kimberly Rainwater?" 

"Yes...?"

"Hello, Ma'am. My name is Detective Spice Miller, TCPD. How are you this evening?" 

"I'm doing fine, sir. May I ask why you're here?" 

"This may be hard for you, madame, but I'm here to talk to you about your nephew." 

"Mercer?" 

"Kumara. Kumara Deveraux?" 

"Oh, him! ....is he well?" 

"...may I come in?"

"...alright. Come on in." 

"Thank you." 

"Watch out - the kids leave out their things too often, I apologize." 

"It's no problem." 

"Follow me - over here. Can I get you something to drink?" 

"I'm fine, thank you." 

"Here. Sit there - mind the table. What is happening with Kumara? Is he okay?" 

"...we believe he may have been involved in a very serious crime, Mrs. Rainwater." 

"What crime?" 

"Well..." 

"Well?" 

"This is our file so far, if you want to look through it. We believe Kumara was an accomplice for kidnapping - and for murder." 

"No. No. You have the wrong boy; my Kumara would never do such things." 

"May I ask you some questions about him? Together, perhaps we can clear his name." 

"Absolutely, detective. I'll answer anything. For goodness' sake, what makes you think my nephew had anything to do with a murder?" 

"Do you know about Vincent Murillo?" 

"Hmph. How could I not?" 

"We believe your nephew was very involved in the happenings between him and his brother. Have you seen Kumara recently?" 

"Yes - he was here just yesterday, actually." 

"Does he live with you? He's fifteen, right?" 

"Yes, he's fifteen, but he doesn't live with me." 

"You're his legal guardian, though." 

"Yes; my brother, his father, wasn't...cut out to be a parent. I haven't seen him or his wife in nearly eleven years." 

"Kumara's parents…?" 

"They left him. They left him and his brother with me and never came back." 

"I see. And if he doesn't live with you, then where is he?"

"He goes to a boarding school." 

"Oh? Which?" 

"Leelanau."

"How long has he been going there? And how often do you talk to him?" 

"He's been going there for a few years. I don't talk to him very often, but he comes to visit at least twice a month. It's a wonderful school for him." 

"What made you send him there?" 

"We were struggling financially. Kumara was younger, and he was helping out in the community trying to earn money - he's always been a sweet, caring boy, detective - and he caught the attention of one of the teachers at the school. Then the head of school and a counselor from Leelaneu came here and offered Kumara a seat at the school." 

"Oh…?" 

"At the time, we were living - all six of us - in a friend's apartment with him, and conditions weren't very good for Kumara. I thought that giving him more space and a better education would be beneficial for him, so I agreed. The next day, the man - one of the teachers - came and drove him there. Since then, Kumara says he's been having a wonderful time there, and he's become so much smarter and more responsible." 

"You said he was in the community trying to earn money?" 

"Yes, sir." 

"How?" 

"He and his cousins would...well, they did just about everything. Washing cars, dog walking, mowing lawns-" 

"Babysitting?" 

"Yes, that too. He and this one boy - Nestor West - would babysit for that...Vincent Murillo." 

"I see. And you said a man came to pick Kumara up?" 

"Yes, he was one of the teachers." 

"Can you describe him?" 

"Sure. He had light hair - he had a lot of it, and striking grey eyes. He wasn't very tall, or thickly built, but he had a thin face, and - I remember, he had earrings in."

"Did he look like this?" 

"...yes. Yes, he did." 

"Hm. Have you ever visited Kumara at school?" 

"No." 

"Does he talk about his classes?" 

"Certainly - he's told me about his friends and some of his teachers." 

"Does he tell you about what he does there? Or what he does in his free time?" 

"Not exactly...he says his favorite class is his history class, though. And his favorite teachers are the one that brought him there and his language teacher." 

"Have you ever heard from the man that brought him there since?" 

"No....who is he? Why do you have a photo of him?" 

"Ma'am...that was a photo of Fritz Foster, the murderer who we've been trying to track down for nearly a decade." 

"Goodness- no!"

"Yes, Ma'am. I'm sorry." 

"How?? Kumara talks about him so much. If he were a murderer, why is...why is Kumara alright? I...he hasn't ever been hurt by this man." 

"That's the reason I'm here, Mrs. Rainwater. Foster terrorized Murillo's family, kidnapped his daughter, and threatened him, before disappearing. Then, Murillo supposedly murdered a group of children - including his own son. But I have reason to believe that he did not commit this crime."

"Who did?"

"I believe his brother - Foster - framed him for it; and, most importantly, Mrs. Rainwater, I believe your nephew helped him." 

"How? Kumara would never do that!" 

"Kumara babysat for Vincent Murilo, correct?" 

"Yes, but he'd never hurt those children!" 

"He might not have done it, but he provided Foster with the information he needed about their life from the inside. Kumara was close with the family, and somehow Foster knew exactly how to target them. He knew Vincent's work schedule, he knew when the children's mother dropped them off at school, he knew how to get into the house easily...he knew exactly how to hurt them." 

"Anyone can break into a house or watch a family to learn their schedule, detective. This doesn't prove Kumara did anything wrong." 

"That house had various forms of security. When Foster took the daughter, he only appeared on a single camera. No alarms, no sign he was there. When he was questioned, Murillo said that Kumara had been with him on a day when the system malfunctioned, and Murillo had told him how it worked, how to get past it. Would you like to know something? The path Murillo described to Kumara is the exact one Foster took to break in and steal his neice." 

"...Kumara wouldn't put someone in danger like that, especially not a little girl." 

"Mrs. Rainwater...I hope he's innocent. But Murillo told me a lot about that boy. Kumara knew a lot of things about that house, and a lot of things about that family." 

"I know; he talked about them a lot. He loved them, detective. He'd never hurt them, or give someone information so that they could. He has a good heart." 

"I believe you, I do. But I'm confident he is with Fritz Foster, or at least has some connection to him. That man is wicked, Mrs. Rainwater. Maybe Kumara didn't have a choice. Maybe he didn't know what was going to happen. I'm not saying he's a criminal. But he needs to be separated from Foster." 

"..." 

"He could be in serioud danger, ma'am. Do you have a way to reach him?" 

"No. I don't." 

"We can't find him, ma'am. If he's innocent, he will be safe. If he's in trouble, we'll get him out of it. My ultimate goal is to get Foster, Mrs. Rainwater, because people are dying. Innocent people are getting hurt, and families are getting ripped apart. If Foster is using your nephew...we need to find them both." 

"...I have gone to the school before, to try and talk to the teacher about Kumara. There was no teacher by the name that he gave me. It had been awhile after Kumara left, so I simply thought I misremembered the name. But it was odd." 

"Fritz Foster. He took your nephew. Was Kumara babysitting for that family before he supposedly went to school?" 

"Yes, for a long time." 

"Then perhaps Foster targeted him for that reason...he needed someone close to his brother to get his revenge. And your nephew got caught in the middle." 

"...goodness...I don't believe it. You must be wrong." 

"Mrs. Rainwater, you don't understand. I don't want to be right - your nephew is only a kid. But if I have the opportunity to talk to him, we can help him. If I am wrong, then fantastic, everything is fine. If I'm right, though, he and many others could be in serious danger. I need to talk to him; we need to make sure he's safe. He could be our best link to finally putting Foster behind bars." 

"..." 

"You don't have to believe me. But please, ma'am...next time you see your nephew, may you call me?" 

"...sure." 

"Thank you. You'll be doing the community a great service." 

"Is that all?" 

"Yes, Ma'am. Thank you for your time." 

"I'll walk you out." 

"...oh, but one more thing." 

"Yes?" 

"Don't tell your nephew about this visit, please. It may be best if he didn't know." 

"...you have my word. Good night, detective." 

"Good night, Mrs. Rainwater."