Twisted waters

One exceptionally early morning, a man awoke with a start to the sound of the landline ringing in the kitchen. He shot up, grabbed a robe, and quickly made his way to the telephone. Afraid of who would possibly consider calling him at such an ungodly hour. He picked up the phone. 

“Hello this is Jake Thatcher speaking,”

Jake said in a deep groggy morning voice, 

“Hey Thatcher, this is Rodney from Laverne. I apologize for bugging you so early but there has been a kidnapping, and I heard you could help”

Jake’s ears perked up at the word Laverne, that was a town he had hoped never to hear about again. He shook off the thought and refocused on the conversation.

“Umm, yeah I believe I can help out, what's the story?”

“The short story is; a young girl, Evangeline Grace, twenty three, went missing two days ago. Left without a trace. Her apartment was left unchanged, her parents, fiancé and friends had heard from her the day before nothing seemed out of the ordinary. She just disappeared out of the blue. Authorities have been notified. Currently, what people are most worried about is if she committed suicide or fell off devils peak, into the jagged rocked ocean bottom.” Rodney stated factually in a concerned tone.

“Sounds like a mystery, I will be there by this evening. What is your address, Rodney?” Jake asked, as he scrambled to find a pen to write down the address.

“8893 Pedleton lane, Laverne, CA.”

“Perfect, I will meet with you as soon as possible.”

“Who was that honey?” a young woman called from the bedroom. 

“Nothing darling just a work call, go back to sleep” 

Poor darling got a concussion, can’t remember a thing from her past, not a damned thing. Which was perfect for now.

…

It was late evening when Jake Thatcher arrived in Laverne, the sun had set leaving the sky a deep blue with stars beginning to emerge. He drove around following the map he had printed that morning while he was arranging things. He pulled up to Rodney's little seaside house at exactly 8:10PM in his old navy blue truck.  

“Hey, Thatcher, I am glad you could make it. There is a guest bedroom inside you can put your stuff in, there’s not many hotels here and none that are open right now, with the fishing derby in town.” 

“That’s fine. Thank you. So what's the word on the missing Evangeline?”

“Let’s go inside and I’ll fill you in on the details.”

…

The next morning, after Rodney had briefed Jake on the case they set out to look for anything that could help with the case. They decided to start with Evangeline's apartment, which she shared with her fiancé. They pulled up to the building and went to the door, Jake knocked three times. 

“Coming!” A gruff voice called from the building. A young man opened the door a moment later, clean shaven, well dressed, fingernails and hair trimmed neatly. In most senses of the word, perfect. Except for the look of fear Jake could see behind his eyes. 

“Hello, Isaac, this is Jake Thatcher. The detective I was telling you about. We were hoping to gain some more information on Evangeline before she went missing, do you know anything that could help us?”

“Yes, of course, anything. She’s my fiancé—“ He stopped mid sentence looking Jake directly in the eyes. “You— you, look familiar Jake, have I—met you before?”

Jake shrugs with devilish grin retaining eye contact “Not that I recall, Mr. Isaac. Maybe you saw my doppelgänger.”

“No, I do not believe so….” He whispered, then with a chippier tone “Come on inside we can chat in the living room.”

The three men walked inside, Rodney began asking Issac questions as Jake observed the house. After a while of listening to the two speak Jake noticed a small golden item reflecting into his face. Tentatively he walked over to a plant on a side table where there was a silver locket tucked away near the base of the plant. 

“What’s this?” He asked, holding it up to the light.

“Oh!” Issac exclaimed “That’s Evangeline's great grandmother's locket, she never takes it off… This is bad, this is really bad. Issac begins to break down tears brimming in his eyes. Jake fumbled with the locket, popping it open.

“Hey, guys, not to break up whatever’s going on over there but there’s a note in the locket.”

Jake dislodged the note and began unfolding the scrap of paper as the others walked over. 

“Come on dude, read it already,” Rodney pressed impatiently.

“It’s a poem,” Jake began with a gasp, “ it says;

I thought I fell in love,

It turns out however,

That I was the girl who fell first,

And he ‘my love’ fell harder,

I thought I was in love, 

But it turns out that was not the case,

But when I relented, I was carried away,

Lost at sea, left not to be found,

Stolen away I’ve been left here to drown,

left without hope, hoping still,

praying beyond prayer,

that my true love will find me,

I’ve lost hope at finding someone faithful and true

Someone to carry me home where I wish to be.

So I sit here and wait, waiting,

hoping beyond hope that ‘my love’,

that he will let me go free.

signed by Evangeline, August, 24,1973”

“That was three days ago,” Rodney stated in a shocked state.

“What does it mean though?” Jake asked. Issac starred, bleakly at the floor. 

“It appears that Evangeline was in love, but now she is not and she is being held captive somewhere,” Rodney said.

“Yeah,” Jake agreed, “It also seems like she might be in a sea cave. Isaac, two questions: one where were you the past three days, two are there any sea caves near here?”

Issac looked shaken up, he inhaled a shaken breath releasing it slowly. “I was on a business trip for work, when— when she disappeared. And— and, yes there are some sea caves nearby, but— but typically they are underwater at this time of year…. Except for— No she couldn’t be there.”

“Where, Issac?” Rodney pressed. 

“Lovers leap, it has a cave, a very very deep cave. We would go there sometimes together, play hide n seek with friends, it's a labyrinth, one wrong turn, and you could slip into another sea cave below, some are filled with water.” Issac finished, looking as white as a ghost. 

…

The trio got into Jake’s truck and drove to Lover's leap. They begin searching through the cave seemingly with no luck, because she was never there to begin with. Jake bumps Rodney into a hole in the cave floor seemingly on purpose. 

“Goodbye friend,” he whispered. Then he turned to Issac who had walked in, at the most inconvenient time possible.

“It was you, wasn't it you kidnapped her, wasn’t it, and you pushed Rodney into that hole on purpose.” Issac said.

“No, Issac,” Jake said in a dark convincing tone, “it was you all you. At least that's how the story will go, what you will admit to, no questions asked,” Jake said, pulling out a pair of handcuffs and securing them on Issac’s wrists. “I’m taking you into custody in the name of the law, Issac King.” 

“NO THIS ISN’T RIGHT! I didn’t do anyth—”

Amazing what I rock to the head can do, knock a person out long enough to call the police, thought Jake, with a grin as he dialed the police. 

“Yes. Hello. This is Jake Thatcher, private detective. I have a criminal here, I just saw him push a man into a hole in the cave floor, possibly killing him and I believe he has kidnapped and possibly murdered his fiancé ... .Yes, that's right. Thank you,” he said, hanging up.

Framing a masterful thing, messy but extraordinary, amazing what a little sweat, blood, and tears can do. Can get you the girl of your dreams, while taking none of the fall. Jake thought as he carried Issac back to the truck away from the cave. Mastery, psychotic maybe, but genius.