Authors: J. F. Gonzalez
"I can't commit to that and you know it And besides, I
don't have the authority to-"
"'hen until you do, you deal with me and my rules"
Lisa and Brad had watched the exchange with a sense of
numb detachment. Lisa felt her confidence in William
Grecko's abilities as an attorney blossom; previously, she
hadn't had much regard for him, but now she could see
why he was one of the most sought-after criminal defense lawyers in Orange County. "You need to talk to Lisa,
fine. You give me twenty-four-hour notice and I will make
sure that she is available to you here in Orange County.
Until then, as long as the perpetrators who committed these crimes are free, Lisa and Brad are in danger. This
means they will be under my protection. My protection,
my rules."
"I don't have time to deal with this shit now," Detective
Orr had muttered, leading the trio to his vehicle. "I'll deal
with you later."
William turned to Brad before they left with Detective
Orr. "I'll go with Lisa; she'll be safe. Go home and start
packing some things. I'll make arrangements on the drive
up to Big Bear. I'll call you"with the details. When Lisa
and I get back, be ready to get on a plane."
They spent the majority of their drive to Big Bear in silence. William Grecko made several phone calls on his
cellular. One was to his office to ask his secretary to
check airline departures out of Irvine to Las Vegas. He
gave his secretary Lisa and Brad's names. "Vegas?" Lisa
asked, looking at him questionly. "Why Las Vegas?"
"Why not?" William punched the disconnect button,
then flipped through his personal phone book. "It's close
enough to get back here quickly if you have to, and I've
got contacts there. You'll be safe."
Lisa settled back. in her seat and listened as William
made the arrangements. She listened as he connected
with somebody on the other line and explained, in
vague terms, that he was "sending a young couple out
your way who need physical protection twenty-four
seven. Think you can set me up?" Lisa knew that Detective Orr was listening in on the conversation too, but
what was he going to do? William hung up, called his office, jotted down flight information, then called his contact in Vegas again, relaying all this information. "They'll
be getting in on Flight 817 on Southwest Airlines." He
gave the contact a brief physical description of Lisa and
Brad, hung up, then called Brad at home, giving him the
information. "Have your bags packed and ready," he said.
"You know, this is crazy," Detective Orr said after the
round of phone calls had been made. They were in San
Bernardino, heading east toward the mountains. "I
mean, we're on it. We'll probably have these guys in custody by tonight."
"I'm not taking any chances," William Grecko said.
"We'll get Lisa to look at surveillance video at the bank
and get some blowups of the suspects," Detective Orr
said. "We might come up with a match somewhere. The
FBI has gotta have heard of these guys by now, from what
Lisa says they're into."
"Maybe" William Grecko said. "But like I said, I don't
want to take chances."
Detective Orr was silent. After a minute, he asked Lisa,
"Would you be available to look at some video when we
get back to Irvine?"
Lisa looked at William, who nodded. "Yeah. Her and
Brad's flight isn't until ten-thirty tonight. Long as we can
get them on the flight, sure."
They were silent again as they drove through San
Bernardino County and made their way to the foothills
and began the ascent into the mountain range. When
they reached the Lake Arrowhead city limits, Detective
Orr broke the long silence. "I'm going to call ahead to
the San Bernardino substation at Big Bear and give them
our M. If there's anything you remember, don't be
afraid to tell me."
Lisa met his gaze in the rearview mirror. 'I won't; she
said. The minute they had begun ascending the mountains, Lisa had tried to piece together what she could remember from her trip up with Tim, but she couldn't.
She'd been blindfolded! Weren't they fucking listening
to her?
William squeezed her hand. `You'll be fine"
Lisa turned to him and made a halfhearted attempt at a smile. She did feel better that William was with her and
taking care of her. But the closer they got to Arrowhead,
the closer they got to Big Bear. And with that realization
came the sinking sense of dread she felt the last time she
was up here with Tim Murray. Knowing they were on the
same road was creating a sense of fear in her that was
churning in the pit of her stomach.
The Big Bear substation was small, about the size of a
small-town real estate office; with a closet-sized waiting
room, two or three offices, and a holding cell in the back,
it bore all the necessary requirements for a small-town police station. They were seated in Sheriff Dean Sweigert's office, and Lisa was beginning to feel claustrophobic.
She had begun to panic the closer they got to the station, and William had rummaged around in his briefcase
for some antidepressants. Lisa gulped two of the capsules down and put her head between her knees, eyes
dosed, willing herself to calm down. By the time they arrived at the station she was feeling a little better, but she
was still nervous.
The first thing Dean Sweigert had done when Lisa sat
down was pull up a chair in front of her. He looked into
her eyes, his features grim, serious. His brush-cut hair
was gray, his face weathered, tanned, features sharply
chiseled. She pegged him to be in his mid-forties. "You
are a very lucky lady," he said, his tone soft yet strong.
"And we're going to find the people that did this, so help
me God."
Lisa nodded, not wanting to meet his gaze.
"Detective Orr told me everything on the phone a few
hours ago," he said. "1 can't believe that people can be ca-
pabJp of such barbarity. And in such a place as Big Bear."
He shook his head. He reached for a file on his desk and
pulled something out, which he now held up in front of Lisa. It was a photograph. "He told me about what happened to Debbie Martinez during the time she went missing. Is this the woman you saw?"
Lisa looked at the photograph and choked back a sob.
It was Debbie Martinez all right. Debbie was seated on a
stone ledge with her back to a small canyon, smiling at
the camera. It looked like the photo was taken at a natural park-Yosemite, perhaps. She was wearing a white
cotton shirt, blue jeans, and a red scarf around her neck.
Her black hair fell to her shoulders. She looked beautiful.
"Yes," Lisa said, nodding as she held back the tears. "'Rat's
her.'Ihat's Debbie..."
'
Dean Sweigert placed the photo back in the file. Her
husband filed a missing-person report on her nearly two
weeks ago. We've combed the entire area looking for
her." He looked up at Detective Orr and William Grecko,
then back at Lisa. To you think you can help us? Do you
think you can remember the cabin you were held in?"
*1 don't know," Lisa said, dabbing at her eyes. "I was
blindfolded during the trip up here, and they blindfolded
me when they took me out!"
"There's three cabins within a mile and a half of the
Martinez place that might be where you were taken,"
Dean said. "We've spoken to the owners already. Two of
them deny having seen her, and the third cabin is owned
by a corporation that's involved in multimedia or something. They use it for weekend retreats. They claim it was
being rented the weekend Debbie disappeared!
"Were any of these cabins within easy walking distance from the Martinez place?' William Grecko asked.
"One of them was," Dean said, leaning back in his
chair. "She could've walked to the other two pretty easily.
Debbie ran three miles every day. A mile walk or so
would have been nothing to her."
Tim boarded up one of the windows," Lisa said, sud denly remembering her ordeal. She looked up at Dean,
then at Detective Orr and Billy. "Right before Debbie
showed up, he was boarding up the window to the bedroom I was in so I wouldn't escape. Maybe-"
Dean moved toward his desk and reached for his radio. "I'll have somebody check it out."
"Does the name Tim Murray mean anything to you?"
Detective Orr asked Dean.
Dean shook his head. "His name isn't on any of the
deeds to the properties we checked out."
"What about Jeff?" Lisa asked. She shuddered at the
thought of calling him Animal. "No last name. I never did
learn his last name."
"I'm afraid not," Dean said. He was just about to speak
into the radio when a tall uniformed ranger poked his
head in. Dean looked up. "Yes, Glenn?"
"Sorry to interrupt, Mr. Sweigert," the ranger said, looking nervous, "but I couldn't help overhearing. Um ... I
think I know what cabin you may be referring to."
Dean Sweigert set the radio down. "Okay .. "
Glenn cast a nervous glance at Lisa. "You said one .of
the guys that abducted you was named Tim? And another called himself Jeff?"
Lisa nodded.
"Was there a guy named Al with them?"
Lisa nodded vigorously. "Yes"
Glenn looked pale. "Tall, thin guy? 'Thinning blond
hair, looked like he was in his late thirties maybe?"
Lisa nodded. 'That's him. That's AI "
"And Tim ... kinds dumpy-looking guy with glasses?
Bushy beard, sandy-colored hair, big beer belly?"
"Yeah," Lisa said. Her heart pounded.
Dean's eyes widened in surprise. "You saw these guys?"
"'The other guy, Jeff," Glenn said, ignoring Dean. "Nice looking guy, early thirties maybe, dark hair. Kinda
yuppie-looking "
"Yes " Lisa felt her stomach sink as Glenn described the
man she could only think of as Animal. A monster.
Glenn turned to Dean Sweigert." the night Neal phoned
the report in on Debbie, we canvassed the area south of
the Martinez cabin. V pulled up to the Golgotha cabin
and came across these guys. They looked like they were
leaving and they were packing camera equipment into a
van. Neal knew Tim, asked him if he had seen Debbie
around, and Tim said he hadn't seen her. I... I didn't
think anything of it at the time-'
"You really saw these guys?" Dean sounded surprised
and angry.
Glenn nodded. He licked his lips nervously. "Yeah.
Like I said, Neal looked like he knew this Tim Murray
character. I questioned all three of them. One of them
claimed it was the first time they'd been up here. Tim
said they were using the cabin for the weekend to shoot
a low-budget film." He looked nervous, scared, and sick.
It was obvious that word of the crime had traveled
around the station. 'I ... I had no idea that these
"
guys ... that they.-.
"It's not your fault," Detective On said softly, sighing in
obvious frustration.
Glenn took a deep breath and bowed his head for a
moment. Lisa could tell that the ranger was having a
hard time dealing with this. He took another deep
breath, then looked up at them again. "Christ, I feel so
sick about this. I had no idea they were the guys. I mean,
at the time I questioned them we were dealing with a
missing-person thing and ... shit!"
'It's okay, Glenn," Dean said, looking grim.
'What's this Golgotha cabin?" Detective On asked.
"It's owned by the Golgotha Publishing Company,"
Dean told him. "They're some kind of multimedia corporation. Self-help books and videos, CD-ROMs, corporate
training shit. 'They're apparently financed by one of the
big churches in Orange County. The cabin itself is owned
by the board of directors and sometimes they come up
here for retreats."
"
"I asked Neal about this Tim guy after we left," Glenn
said, looking nervous. "He said that Tim rents the place
out from somebody, but he never told him who owns it.
Neal never asked."
*You questioned these guys? The Golgotha people?"
Detective Orr asked Dean.
Dean moved over to the filing cabinet and began rummaging through it. "Yeah, we did. I got on the phone with
one of them a few days after Debbie disappeared. One of
their board members claimed the cabin was rented that
weekend. That a film crew was making some kind of student film for a Christian University."
"I don't believe it," Lisa said. Hearing that the perversities that had been carried on in that cabin were being
hidden by the guise of organized religion was making
her sick.
"Did you get the name of the person you spoke to?" Detective On asked.
"Yeah" Dean found the paper he was looking for.
"Oliver Gardenia" He looked at Lisa. "Ring a bell?"
Lisa was trying to remember. "I don't know. I ... I think
Al might have mentioned somebody named Sam at
some point during the weekend, but .. " She didn't remember an Oliver Gardenia.
"Even though the corporate name is listed on the
deed, Oliver's name and signature are on some of the
other paperwork, so that's who I called."
"Make me copies of everything you got," Detective Orr said, moving to another desk and picking up the phone.
"Mind if I use your phone?"
"Go ahead."
And as the investigation kicked into high gear, Lisa
could only sit back and let William Grecko comfort her
as she sought to retreat from the madness.
Brad was at home packing clothes for him and Lisa into a
single suitcase when the doorbell rang.
He had gotten a call from William Grecko an hour and
a half ago telling him to pack and to be ready to leave
when he and Lisa returned. William said he had set them
up at an undisclosed location in Las Vegas and that they
were leaving this evening. When Brad asked how Lisa
was doing, William said she was fine. "'There's more, but
I'll tell you everything tonight" Billy's tone of voice told
Brad that things were brewing and that he couldn't talk
about it on the phone. He would find out soon enough.
Brad moved through the house to the front door, wondering who was at the door. It couldn't be Lisa's parents,
who were still in town. He had talked to them already
and they were waiting by the phone per his instructions.
He had talked to his parents this afternoon, telling his
dad, then his mother, everything. His mom had gasped
in shock, then had given the phone to his father, Brad
had heard her crying in the background as he told his father. Dad had been silent, his voice shaky. He'd sounded
shocked. He'd asked Brad if there was anything they
could do and Brad told them no, not yet, Billy was taking
care of everything. He'd call later.