Dreams and premonitions

It’s raining bullets. And being a detective, I found myself looking up and seeing a hail of bullets coming from the sky. But as I looked around, I could not see where they were coming from. For days forecasters were saying that in the next few days massive thunderstorms were predicted, and being a sharpshooter myself I knew if I wanted the element of surprise, this would be the perfect time. Nobody would know it was coming. By then it was too late.

Moments earlier everyone was enjoying a beautiful sunny day. Then suddenly they were running for cover as darkening clouds covered the sun and the loud sounds pierced the air.

I waited until there was silence between rounds, to move into the crowd yelling for them to take cover, as if they weren’t already doing that.

Just as another round of gunfire was heard, the sound of thunder also pierced the air waking me from a dead sleep. Now dazed from the loud noise, I was sitting in the dark when lightning suddenly illuminated my room.

As I sat there getting my bearings, I wondered if this was a premonition. Was my dream warning me that not only would a storm arrive in a few days so would trouble.. And when that did happen, my team and I were going to do whatever it took to stop them.

There was no use trying to go back to sleep because in an hour I had to get up anyway. So, I got up, dressed and headed to the station. As I neared the station, I noticed that the thunder, lightning, and rain had died down and the sun was just beginning to appear. 

Chapter 2

When I walked into the station, I saw my partner Cliff already there and enjoying his first cup of coffee. I smiled as I headed to grab a cup for myself. That’s when my supervisor Capt. Ryan poked his head out of his office.

“Good morning, Julie, why don’t you and Cliff step into my office.” He then turned and walked back into his office. He had just sat behind his desk when we entered and took the seats opposite.

“What’s up Capt?” Julie asked.

“I received a call at home from Councilman Brian Tiggs.” The Capt began.

“What did he want?” Cliff asked.

“He called to remind me that whoever was after him would try and make their move today. I reassured him that we would be there and that he would be safe.”

He then took a deep breath and continued, “To refresh our memories I pulled the file including the picture and dossier of the potential shooter. She had threatened to be somewhere around the town square waiting for Congressmen Tiggs to appear.

After the short briefing, we headed back to our desks to begin our strategy to protect the congressmen, and the others who would be there. I knew that if this woman was determined to harm anyone, I would do whatever I had to stop her.

On our way to the congressman’s office, we stopped by the town square to see the area and how best to protect everyone. I of course would be stationed on one of the buildings as well. After checking out the area we headed to speak with Mr. Tiggs.

As I headed up the steps I looked up and saw that the sky was darkening as the clouds began to gather once more. The sky was as It was in my dream. And because of that, it would be harder to see who had weapons because of the jackets and rain gear everyone would be wearing. Not to mention what they carried in bags, purses and briefcases. Even an innocent package could not be overlooked. Finally, the area and route were mapped out and officers stationed along the way we headed to meet and escort Mr. Tiggs to the gathering.  

Chapter 3

Upon entering the building, Cliff and I showed our badges and were escorted to Mr. Tiggs’ office.

“Julie, Cliff, thank you for coming.” Mr. Tggs said, standing and shaking our hands. “Please have a seat.” Mr. Tiggs said, pointing to the empty seats across his desk. “I’m sure you remember Carl and Anthony, my security team.”

“Yes.” they said in unison,” How nice to see you again.” After a brief acknowledgment they got down to business.

“First, remind us who this woman is, that’s targeting you.” Cliff asked, taking out his pad and pen.

“The woman’s name is Hilary Demarkous.” Tiggs began.

“How do you know her?” Julie asked.

“She worked here about a year ago,” Anthony said, as he set paperwork in front of them. “This is her hire packet with the information she used. We have copies.”

“What issues were you working on? Did anything specific interest her?” Cliff asked.

“We were working on a few things, gun control, school security, Funding various programs for the next year.” Mr. Tiggs said.

“She really wasn’t interested in anything specific that we noticed, but she was eager to learn the system and what we did.” Carl added.

“So, she knows your systems.”

“Yes, but we have since changed them. We do it every time a temp leaves whether on good conditions or bad.” Tiggs said.

“And after this morning I believe she was definitely a bad one because to remind me that today she would be after me today, when we got here this morning, we found that she dropped off the package just after midnight. From what we saw she worked to conceal her face, but the reflection on the opposite window shows her face clear as day.”

“What was in the package?”

“A video of the town square where we are supposed to be today.”

“We would like a copy. That way we can have our techs look at it. Maybe they can see something that can help us find her.”

“Of course, here you go.” Anthony said, handing over the entire package.

“Silly question. Who touched the package to bring it in? Julie asked.

“I did,” Carl said, “my prints are in the system of course.”

“I’ll call and have someone come and get this sent to the lab,” Cliff said, taking possession of the package after putting on a pair of gloves.

After a few more minutes Julie grabbed everything that was offered as evidence and headed back to the station to begin their investigation. 

Chapter 4

After the package was taken to the lab, Councilmen Tiggs, his security team and Cliff and I headed to town square where the press conference would be held. When they got there, plainclothes security officers were already in position, covering every area of the town square.

After leaving Mr. Tiggs with Cliff and his team, I headed to one of the rooftops.

Cliff’s job was to walk through the crowd looking for the woman who was the prime suspect and stop her.

~~~~

Back at the lab, technicians were combing over the video frame by frame trying to see if they could find any clue that would help us. Roger downloaded the tape into the computer so they could see even the littlest detail, anything that would tell them where this woman was, and why she wanted him dead. There had to be secrets they just haven’t uncovered yet. And it was up to Roger to uncover them.

The beginning of the video was of Hilary speaking into a camera. At first she was calm and to the point. As he watched and listened, he tried to pick up on anything that might help. Next was the view of the town square and the stores and buildings surrounding it. It was a shot of them setting up the stage and placing the banners. Nothing unusual. As he looked at each scene, he looked for anything out of the ordinary.

Then at the end the woman was back to speak to the camera once again. This time with a message for Councilman Tiggs himself.

“You don’t know me, but I have been planning this for fifteen years. I was five years old when I started asking my mother where my dad was. She just smiled and told me he was some great man and that your plans no longer included her. Do you not remember, let me refresh your memory. You met her in high school and you told her you planned to run for office when you were grown. And she told you she was going to be at your side. After college you two married and she got pregnant. Then you got scarce. Each time she tried to contact you, you pushed her away and finally you moved leaving her to raise me alone. It took me a while, but I found you and just want to know one thing, why?”

And with that the video ended.

After the video ended Roger got on his phone and called Julie. “Mr. Tiggs is a dad to a very upset young woman.” he said the moment she answered.

“What?”

“He was married 20 years ago and had a daughter. Hilary is his daughter and is the one targeting him.”

“Say that again?”

“He was married just after college, and she had a child. When the baby was born, he split. When she tried to contact him he vanished.”

“Wonderful, I’ll let Cliff know. Do we know where she will strike?”

“No, but I let Cliff know where the most likely places might be. Mr. Tiggs must not have seen the tape or has not told you.”

“Great. There are hundreds of people here. It’s going to be a challenge to find her. “

“The one thing she kept saying over and over is why? What made him leave her mom alone to raise a child as a single mother.”

"What was the motive indeed? They were married. There was no affair to cover up. “

“I’ll contact you if I learn anything more,” Roger said before hanging up.

Chapter 5

As Julie heard the news of a child nobody knew about, she had to talk to Cliff and confirm the plan of action. Right now they needed to focus on stopping her before others were hurt. And to stop her they had to find her.

With the new information Cliff began moving from business to business to see camera views in hopes of seeing this young woman who is set on destroying a man for something that happened twenty years earlier.

As the congressman prepared for his speech Julie approached him to ask more about the woman.

“Congressman Tiggs, I need to ask you something.”

“Sure what?”

“Were you married twenty years ago?”

Suddenly he froze.

“Congressman?”

“Everyone, will you excuse me for a moment? I need to speak with security about a private matter.” He said as everyone began leaving the area.

“Yes, was married twenty years ago, but the woman and I went our separate ways.”

“I think you should see this,” Julie said, pulling up the video and pressing play.

As the congressman watched the video, she saw him turn white as a sheet. Clearly, he knew her.

“I didn’t know she was pregnant, yes, we wanted children and had talked long and often about having children. But when I left, she showed no sign of being pregnant. If she was, she never told me.”

“Would there be a reason she wouldn’t?”

He thought for a moment, “It’s so far back I don’t know.”

“What were you doing back then?”

“Preparing to run for office. That’s one of the reasons we married. I wanted to run on a family first platform. Focusing on family issues such as childcare. Low-income housing for single parents. That sort of thing.”

“Were there people opposed to what you stood for, or any old girlfriends?

He just stood there a moment then he snapped his fingers.

“Her name was Stella. Stella Ramos. She wasn’t a girlfriend but she worked for my opponent. She tried to seduce me once to blackmail me saying she would leak the pictures to get me to withdraw my candidacy. When that didn’t work and it came out that she and her boss tried, they were disgraced and withdrew from the race.”

“Could this woman have contacted Peggy at any point and threatened to hurt her? Or you?”

“It’s possible, but if she did, Peggy never said anything to me.” He continued.

“Well right now we think Hilary is targeting you because you left without looking back.”

“I didn’t know,” He said rather admittedly. “Peggy never told me.”

“Go on.”

Before he spoke, he took a deep breath, “Before I left Peggy and I talked about my plans about traveling to campaign. She was all for it, but before we were to leave, she changed her mind. She said there were things she had to do at home and would see me when I got back. But when I got back, she was gone. Neighbors said she moved leaving no forwarding address.” Then he paused. When he spoke again, I could tell he was getting choked up. “It was as if she fell off the face of the earth.”

“According to Hilary, after she was born, her mom told her you left and never looked back. Now why she said that or even if those were her words we don’t know. What we do know is the tape says she died singing your praises.”

“And now the daughter- my daughter - is looking to target me for some unknown reason.”

“Well, we are going to do everything we can to stop it.”

“Thank you.” 

Chapter 6

“We found her!” was the news that came over the radio.

“Where?” I replied as I looked at Mr. Tiggs.

“She just entered the town square. She’s wearing a long blue raincoat. Her hair is tied back and she has on combat boots. She’s with three other people all wearing the same coat. Probably trying to hide among the crowd.”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive. It’s the same woman from the picture we have.”

“Copy that, I’m on my way,” I said then looked at Mr. Tiggs.

“You stay here until I come back. I’m going to go find her and secure her so there is no more threat.”

“Right.’

Quickly leaving, I headed to where Cliff was to help apprehend this woman. When I stepped outside, the clouds had grown more ominous than they were when she entered the building. The clouds were darkening and threatening to open at any minute. And a cold chill ran down my back as I saw the woman we were looking for.

Suddenly feeling lightheaded the scene from my dream of bullets raining from the sky flashed before my eyes. “Oh, this isn’t good,” I said to myself.

“Hum what?” Cliff asked now beside me.

When I saw Cliff, I quickly explained my dream and the bullets raining from the sky.

“You’re right, that isn’t good. Let’s arrest her before that happens.”

But it was too late. Seconds before we had three women at gunpoint, they had pierced the air with battle cries shooting slips of paper into the air to fall from the sky. Now in cuffs all three women were being questioned.

“Hillary Demarkous, we have a few questions for you.” Cliff said as the three women were separated.

“Yes?

“Why were you sending Congressman Tiggs packages?”

“Because after learning he was my father 15 years ago, I wanted a chance to meet him and get to know him. That’s why I worked for him last year. I wanted to see what kind of man he was, and is.”

“Go on,” Julie said.

“Every time I asked my mom she just said he was a good man but had to leave. So, after she died, I began looking for him. I didn’t want to come out and tell him who I was until I knew it was safe. Once I knew who he was, I wanted to set up a meeting and introduce myself. Then I heard he was speaking today. I knew it was the perfect time to see what his views about marriage and children were.

“Well, if what you say is true, we might be able to arrange a private meeting.” Cliff said totally out of character.

“Cliff!?” Julie said with raised eyebrows.

“What I’m a sucker for reuniting families.”

Within an hour after checking out the young woman’s story to see if she was telling the truth, and after the Congressman’s speech, father and daughter were reunited in a private meeting.

As for what was on the slips of paper - a simple message to us all- keep families together.

The end