Authors: Jesse Abundis
“ The cartoon,” another sigh from his guardian, who was ashamed for his student not having a greater knowledge of books. “ Yeah, ok, well that cartoon was a book first. Go check it out, Alice In Wonderland by: Lewis Carroll.”
“ Where do I go ?”
“ Head to the second floor, Aisle 1576-1590.”
There were no other words spoken to him, he could hear his guardian breathing as he searched for the book. It took him sometime but he found it. “ Got it.”
“ Through The Looking Glass, same author, should be four books to your right.”
Needless to say, there it was. His second book. “ Got it, now what? “ Klecko asked, only to have his guardian hang up on him once more. “Does he want me to read these?” He asked himself.
He scouted for an empty spot to sit, luckily it was the lunch hour and he was in the library , the possibilities were endless. He found a spot and began to open the first book. On the very first page he discovered a photo wedge into the cracks. “ What do we have here?” His heart raced. “ Who are you?” He stared at the photo that had a young teenage girl who had to be no older than nineteen smiling shyly at the camera, standing outside this same library.
“
Why are you doing this, I thought you loved me?”
Klecko could feel his stomach turn as that horrifying cry thrashed inside his mind.
“ What the fuck?” He shook his head, trying to shake off whatever violent image that was. He took two deep breaths before turning to the next page, were he discovered another photo of the same girl, standing outside some other unknown location. It continued for fifteen pages straight, each photo telling their own story, until the sixteenth, where he found a hand written letter neatly tucked away.
He looked at the other book, wondering if he would find the same, and he did. Only the photos in Through The Looking Glas, were of a black male in his late forties. The one thing to jump out at Klecko, was the background of each photo, it was the same locations taken with the teenage girl.
“ You don’t have to do this, please, just let me go.”
Also met with the same horrifying plead, this time with a male’s voice.
“ Did you two take photos of each other?” Klecko asked each victim, hoping they would speak to him. He turned to the sixteenth page and found what he was looking for, another hand written letter. “ Which one do I read first?” He asked himself, biting on his lip as hard as he could. He could feel his teeth shutter, he could feel curiosity scratching at the back of his mind. “ You never read the second book, because you’ll be lost in the story, so you read the first to understand the whole picture.” He open the first letter, looked over his shoulder repeatedly, having someone else eyes lay upon these letters felt disgraceful. This was between he and his Guardian, no one else. He took a deep breath, leaned in to the table to block anyone’s view and began to read the note.
Dear Father,
I miss you deeply. Each night I pray you’ll find your way to me and we’ll be together, once more. I hope all is well. I know how important your mission from God is. He has given you this task to make you a better man and once you’re done we will be family again.
I’ve met a friend. Her name is Lidia. She’s really shy. I’m her only true friend, at least that’s what she tells me. We do things normal friends would do, eat, chat, catch a movie, I enjoy her company. She’s very easy to be around. Every time I’m around her, I feel these feelings you told me about, the ones some people wouldn’t understand. I’m at a lost in what to do, should I act on them or hold back ?
I pray each night, hoping the lord will have an answer for me, that his will can guide me down the right path. But I hear nothing but silence. Please father, can you come into the city this weekend, I just need your wisdom, I hate taking you from your mission, but I’m desperate, I feel lost, I feel wrong for having these thoughts about this girl, even if you told me not to. Please, papa, can you meet me?
Klecko wasn’t sure what to make of the letter, a girl confused about her sexuality , a major believer in a higher power, which would add to her desperate need of guidance. He wondered if this was the same girl his Guardian was talking about, the one who wanted to punish herself, trying to drown out the natural instinct that came to her. He put the first letter aside inside his pocket of his coat, with the teenage girls photos and moved on to the second letter.
Dear Father
I feel complete. You were right, I needed to hear God’s voice, I needed to hear his wisdom, I had to block out the static in the back and just embrace God’s will. I’m heading to the church you showed me in Harlem and introduce my friend Marcus to God as well. He’s felt so alone, so left out in the world, he needs to be set free. Lidia still thanks me for helping her out, cleansing her soul from the sins of man.
I‘m glad to have the lord beside me father, I know he’s smiling upon me as I help those in need. He will protect me, he will give me strength and he will bring us back together again when he feels it’s right. Take care father. I miss you so much.
“ Saving the wicked are we?” Klecko raised a skeptical eyebrow as he put the letter inside his pocket. He double checked the books, making sure he didn’t miss anything else. “ What are you showing me?” Klecko asked himself, still confused in what these letters and photos were suppose to show him, he wondered who the girl was, all he knew was his Guardian had a bond with her. Seconds later his cell began to vibrate once more. “ Whose the girl ?” Klecko asked right off the bat.
“ You’re heading to that church.” His guardian gave no answer to his question, only more instructions. “ Drive to Harlem, stop and Amber RD and Graystone St. “
“ There’s a Church there ?” Klecko was shocked, he was familiar with the streets and locations of N.Y He never remember a church being there. He waited for his Guardian to answer back, only to have him hang up on him once more. “ Got it, not in a mood for answering questions.” Klecko said as he collected the items.
Chapter 62
Where Did you go?
With a couple of hours to kill, Peewee decided to take Karen’s advice and venture over to the diner Maggie worked at, just to see what she was up to and also talk about the new angle they were chasing down. Anything to give the women some hope in the dark chapter in her life.
Peewee was far from thrilled with tonight’s hooker hunt, he still found the whole idea as a desperate attempt, one that would pay off or just break whatever was left of hope.
Peewee pulled into the parking lot, his car gasped and shot out gas emission all over the place. People cursed at the smell and spat to the get the taste out of their mouths. Peewee just patted his car, reassuring her that she had nothing to feel ashamed about. “ Don’t listen to them, baby.” He spoke to her softly as he parked.
He walked out into a cold breeze, which surprised him, there was nothing but heat forecast for the whole week. He slammed the car door shut and headed into the diner.
A little door bell chimed as he walked inside. A fat overweight Italian was eating a pastrami sandwich, with Chile fries, and two sunny side eggs waiting on his plate, Peewee couldn’t help but ask the man. “ Just a little something to tie you over?”
“ Yeah, man, I’m trying to watch my figure. Skipping desert.” He said happily with a mouth full of meat and mustard dripping down his cheek.
Peewee just patted his shoulder. “ You’re the embodiment of perfection. “
Anyone else might think Peewee was joking, but he meant it with all his heart, another little quirk to his personality, he didn‘t care how you looked like, if you were happy being you, he embraced it. “ Thanks, man.” The man thanked and continued eating.
Slowly an old waitress came from the kitchen with her notepad in hand to take Peewee’s order. “ What can I get ya twiggy ?”She said in a strong southern accent.
“ Twiggy?” Peewee was offended, he was slim, but not a twig, and he was pretty sure she would take back her comment if she saw his abes of the steal. The ones that were hard to see from the distance, you could only see them at an angle. “ Whatever, look, is Maggie around. I really need to talk to her.”
“ Maggie quit.” The old Southern waitress said, sticking the pencil back into her gray honeycomb hair.
“ She quit, why?” Peewee asked.
“ Don’t ask me twiggy, she just stop showing up three days ago, not a call or anything. Just gave up.” The old woman picked up the dishes and slammed them hard as she put them away. “ Stupid girl, had to quit on my days off, how rude is that, in my days, you just didn’t do that.”
“ Yeah, and people rode dinosaurs and you used to dildo yourself with a wooden stick.”
Peewee thought to himself, but never said outloud. “ Thank you.” Peewee just waved goodbye to the old woman and patted the fat gentlemen’s shoulder one final time before exiting the diner. He reached into his pocket and called Maggie’s cell, only to get sent to voice mail.
“ Hi, this is Maggie Donner. I’m not in right now, but if you want to leave your name and message I promise to get back to you as soon as possible. Thank you.”
“ Mag’s, it’s me, where are you? I just stop by your job. They said you haven’t shown up for three days, What’s up with that? Let’s get together right now and have lunch, I got some great news, we’re getting closer in catching the bastard, call me back.” He entered the car unsatisfied, he wanted to talk to Maggie. He knew this wasn’t like her to just drop out of sight. She used this job not to just pay for bills but to distract herself from thinking about Lisa.
He pulled the car out of the parking lot and drove like a bat out of hell. He was going to make one more stop before heading back to Karen, he was heading to Maggie’s apartment complex, hopefully she was in bed just fighting the flu, probably in need of some T.L.C. How he hoped.
Chapter 63
Ashtray Heart
It was stupid, it was risky, but Karen knew what she was doing. She knew the private eye had been following her for a few minutes already, she had plenty of chances to lose him, but that wasn’t the plan, she wanted to get him alone. A little payback for coming into her room at night. She played the dumb and clueless once more, giving him the boost of confidence of getting the drop. She could almost hear his heart race with excitement with each turn they made. “ Follow me down the rabbit hole.” Karen said under her breath.
Karen made the turn into an alley, a good spot to hide with the garbage bins and piles of trash. She quickly ducked behind a bin waiting for him to come. The detective was so eager to catch her, that he came rushing past her, never seeing how close she was to him. “ Fuck,” He kicked the ground. “ clever little witch.”
Karen rushed up behind, pulling out a little dagger she carried with her at all times when she went out for a walk in the middle of the night, she pressed it tightly against the Detective’s neck. “ You have no clue how clever I am.” She said to him, she could hear the erratic breathing coming from the detective, he never pictured Karen getting the drop on him. “ You know it’s self-defense if I stab you.” She whispered nice and hard in his ear.
“ Do it,” He told her. “ killing comes natural to you.” The sweat began to run down his lip.
“ I didn’t kill anyone.” She told him.
“ For a moment, I thought so too, you just don’t look the type.” Karen turned the detective around and shoved him against the wall, keeping the knife to his neck. “ But now, oh no, you’re a cold blooded monster.” He said, grinning nervously. “ I can see that clearly.”
Karen just laughed at him. “ You are so cute when you’re scared shitless.”
“ Tell me, is this the monster Ryan and Ruby saw the day they died?”
“ Who the fuck is Ruby?” Karen slowly inched the blade from his neck.
“ Don’t play dumb!” He shouted back, only to have Karen press the blade at his adams apple for the outburst. “ Wait, wait,” He stuttered repeatedly.
“ I’ll ask you again, who the hell is Ruby?”
The Detective closed his eyes, before saying anything. “ She was the third victim, you remember her, don’t you?”
Karen just shook her head. “ I don’t have a clue who that is, Ryan was the only one who died in the fire. There was no Ruby.”
“ Wow, I didn’t think it was possible.“ The Detective began to chuckle. “ That day really did a number on you didn’t it, you’ve fooled yourself from the truth all this time. You really believe your innocent, don’t you?”
Karen gripped the throat of the Detective with her right hand nice and tight. “ Consider this your last warning, I don’t want to see you near my place, I don’t want to see you following me, I don’t want you bugging my friend, in fact I want you out of New York, I want you to go back to the Moser family and tell them to move on. What happened to their son, “ She swallowed hard. “ my husband, was heartbreaking. We all need to find closure and move on.” She released her grip, and put the small knife back into her pocket.