by Laura Greene
Nick and Charlie sit down next to her. There is dread in the room of what she might have discovered. Neither say a word. They wait for Tina to speak first.
“Dean kept a record of all the students he tutored including those he had relations with. There are over fifty students’ names here.” Anticipating the question already printed on Nick and Charlie’s expressions, she answers, “I know this because I kept the USB from evidence.” She notes the suspicion now withdrawn from their eyes, then continues, “I know it wasn’t Dean. I’m sure of it. The way he reacted to Anna passing was too compassionate for a killer; which means that our killer is still at large.”
“Who do you think it could be?” Nick asks.
“I’m not sure yet, but I think The List will help us find out who it is.” Tina points at the piece of paper she was scribbling on. “Here are the names of all six girls who are dead.”
“Are you thinking something about them made them stand out from the rest?” Nick asks as he scratches his head.
“That’s right. I looked for any commonalities they had between them and there was only one.”
“What?” Charlie is also following Tina’s reasoning.
“All six girls room alone.”
“So, if we can search the list for anyone else who rooms alone,” Nick begins. He is now standing and pacing back and forth.
“Already ahead of you.” Tina interjects. “I found three names.” She shows her co-conspirators the paper.
“Wait, is that…?” says Nick. One name on the list is all too familiar to him and the urgency of solving this case hits him.
“Yes, Ella.” Tina knows that tomorrow, Ella’s parents are coming to take her home on a short leave. Principal Amy called and told them about Dean. She does not reveal this news yet. She doesn't know why, but something tells her to not say it.
“So what are we going to do?”
“Stakeout. We’re going to watch all three girls closely tonight and for the next few nights if we have to. If they are next, they will lead us to our killer.”
With that, Charlie sets up the cameras and all three conspirators get comfortable in the room and await any action.
An hour goes by. Two hours. Then three. Nick, who was the most excited for the stakeout is the first to bow out. He returns to his apartment on campus and says to call when any action happens. Soon after him, is Charlie. He starts dozing off and Tina sends him to bed. He now reminds Tina his room is next door. All she has to do is call and he will come back. Tina agrees. She is used to stakeouts. Coffee and snacks is all she needs to make it through the night. Thanks to Charlie has both.
Another hour goes by. Then two. The night is far spent and Tina starts to wonder if she should also call it a night. Going two nights without sleep can’t be good for anyone, not even a detective.
Then, some movement. As if to reward her patience, out of one of the cameras, appears a young feminine figure. It’s Ella Conwell. She’s wearing pajamas and she’s holding a bed sheet.
Tina’s heart stops for a moment. The feeling of dread and remorse fills her entire body like a paralyzing chill and it takes all the strength in her to shake it and run to call Charlie for backup.
Tina bangs on Charlie’s door and he rushes out shouting, “I’m coming. I’m coming.” Tina runs back into the CCTV room. Ella is exiting the west doors towards the forest.
“Hurry, she’s getting away.” Tina already has her weapons ready.
A panting Charlie appears at the door, his hair ruffled from sleep. “Don’t worry I know the woods like the back of my hand.” They run out after Ella. Will she really take her own life? Tina has yet to see anyone take their own life in front of her. In her training she has seen suicide by cop, but not...this. She’s not sure she can handle seeing a young girl take her life on her conscience.
Outside, the chill of dread is jolted by the chilling cold of the night. A fog is settling into the air. The temperature is dropping with each minute that nears the early morning hours. Tina is desperate to find Ella and Charlie is her one hope of finding her. Please, God, Tina prays in her heart, help her live through the night. Her only concern is finding Ella. She fears the night may also be targeting Ella. Even if she doesn’t take her life, the cold winds are enough to take her.
“Ella!” The wind intercepts her loud cry and carries it away with a menacing howl. Even the night is warning her to not draw near, but Tina ignores the threats of the night. “Ella!” She presses on covering her face and carefully following Charlie’s feet.
“Hey! Wait for me!” It’s Nick and he has just joined in time to help with the search.
“Charlie!” Tina shouts. Charlie is only a couple of feet away, but she is battling the winds to be heard. “The water tower! Hurry!”
Charlie raises his hand to acknowledge her and points forward. Tina is hoping they can get there before Ella, but more than that, she hopes they can find her, and soon. With Nick now walking behind her, Tina realizes she is being guarded from the full thrust of the wind by Charlie in front and whips of the winds that toss from the back by Nick. But who is guarding Ella? Please, God.
“Up...head, we’re alm... there!” Charlie signals and shouts as his words are devoured by the wind.
Tina gathers that they are close. The wind blows back her coat hood. She covers her ears from the cold cuts like knives slicing through her ear. She thought Boston was cold, but Newport’s ocean winds are unmatched. Tina lifts up the hood of her bubble coat and looks up to see the water tower standing unconquered by the winds. “There she is!” Tina actually hears herself this time. The howling winds are calming down and Tina takes this as a sign of her prayer being answered.
Already half-way up the water tower, Ella is shivering as she climbs up. Tina takes off to run and follow after Ella, but Nick holds her back by the shoulder. “No, the winds are still strong and they could pick up again. You wait here and talk to her. I’ll go after her.” Nick sprints to the tower as he shouts, “Ella! Wait!”
Ella looks like she is in a trans. The violent winds do not howl more fiercely this time, they halt all together like an ensemble waiting to see the next act. The winds watch. Charlie and Tina watch. The night watches. And Nick races to the top.
Already standing at the top of the tower is Ella. She is uncharacteristically calm. She is muttering under her breath as she takes a step. Who is she talking to? Tina wonders, “Ella, listen to me. You do not have to do this. You have family and friends that love you that will be heartbroken. Please, don’t do this Ella.”
Ella stops. Tina hears what sounds like sobbing. “I have to do this. It’s the only way.”
“Only way for what, Ella?” Tina probes.
“It’s the only way I can pay for my sins.” Tina’s heart is jolted like an alarm to a car. Those words, she thinks, I read them in Anna’s letter to her parents.
Nick is nearing the top of the tower. He is just a few steps away from Ella. “Stop!” Ella shouts. She clings onto the bed sheet more tightly. “Don’t come any closer!” There are tears in her eyes and her voice is breaking as she says this. Tina knows in her heart that Ella does not want to take her life, she feels she has no other choice.
“Ella, please. Listen to me. Anna felt she didn’t have any other choice. That’s why she did it. But you and I both know that she had another choice and we know the pain it caused you. If Anna was here, do you think she would let you do this? Please think of her. I wanted to protect her, but I didn’t know. Please give me a chance to protect you. I’m only asking for a chance.” Tina’s heart is breaking within her for Ella.
Ella falls to her knees, crying.
“Nick, now!” Nick rushes to pick Ella up and bring her safely down the tower.
Tina rushes to Ella and holds her tightly in her arms like a mother holds her child to protect her. She takes off her coat and places it on Ella, “Thank you, Ella. Thank you, for choosing to stay.” Tina rubs her arms around Ella as they walk back to the dorms.
“I heard them too.” Ella whispers low enough for only Tina to hear.
“Heard what, Ella?”
“They told me to do it.”
“What are you talking about, who told you to take your life?” Tina asks, staring at Ella and leaning closer to her.
“The voices.”
Chapter 3
The voices. Tina finally slept a few hours and she’s refreshed. Boxes of clothes that she still needs to unpack are dotted about her room and she is grateful for some much needed rest. The two officers are on watch outside her home; inside, she is yet to unpack and make her house more of a home. But before she can entertain her house decorations, Tina has a phone call to make. She is happy to oblige the call because deep down she’s not yet ready to admit her roots are now in Newport.
Her mind reverts back to Ella. It’s not yet clear to Tina why she is so drawn to her. Thus far, at every step of her investigation, she has run into Ella and it’s as if their destinies are intertwined. Perhaps the two times she has saved her: first from her perpetrator Dean, and the water tower incident have something to do with it. The very thought of the last words Ella said to her last night haunts Tina. She wonders what Ella meant when she said the voices told her to take her life. Will I have to save her from the voices too? As obscure as the details remain, this statement is the closest she has gotten so far to finding out who is behind these deaths.
Tina gets up from her bed and she calls Ella’s parents. She’s anxious to find out how Ella is doing.
After the water tower incident, Tina waited for Ella’s parents to arrive and take her home. Poor girl. The last week had been unforgiving to her; Ella, herself had been through so much turmoil. The last thing she probably expected that night was a boat ride on the Conwells’ private ship to Martha’s Vineyard. Yet, being home will be the safest place for her while the investigation continues. Now, Ella will be safely tucked away from her tormentors.
Tina looks at her watch. By now they should be in Martha’s Vineyard, she thinks. “Mrs Conwell, this is Detective Tina James. I don’t want to take too much of your time. I just wanted to see how Ella is and if she’s maybe shared anything with you that could help with the investigation?”
“Detective James, thank you for calling. Ella is fine. We arrived a few hours ago and she has barely exchanged two words with us.” Mrs Conwell seemed like a strong woman when Tina met her, but now, Tina can hear her voice quivering as she speaks.
“She may still be in shock. We’ll give her time to settle in. And Mrs Conwell, the next few days will not be easy, but we believe home is the best place for Ella to be right now. Would you please call me when she’s ready to talk?”
“Thank you, Detective. We will.” Mrs Conwell hangs up the phone. Tina is grateful to see Ella has a loving tribe surrounding her and expects her recovery to be smooth. She did not expect Ella to say anything about the case yet. Her call was out of genuine concern for the young girl. In her heart, she has a strong and rather strange sense that in helping Ella she is in turn helping herself also – in what way, she is yet to find out.
When Tina puts her phone down, she catches boxes staring at her from the corners of the room. Their poised stature practically taunts her for procrastinating to unpack. This is it, she thinks, what I do next will determine if I’m leaving or staying in Newport. She settles in her mind that it’s time to go for it; the only way to solve a problem is to face it head on, so I’m staying. Then, with slight apprehension, she takes the first box and cuts it open.
This begins her journey to settling into her home one box at a time. With each box she unpacks, she stacks a box of joy in her heart. She is confident that she has made the right choice. However, each minute that she spends in Rhode Island is a minute that brings her closer to the most dangerous encounters yet, and her decision to stay is the deed that will prove to be her doom.
*
Tina is listening to her favorite playlist on Spotify as she breaks up boxes in the living room when she receives a call.
It’s Mrs Conwell again, but this time she sounds frantic.
“Detective, please come quickly.” A mere two hours have passed since they spoke and Mrs Conwell’s voice is higher pitched this time.
“What’s going on? Is Ella okay?” Tina sets the box in her hand aside and takes a seat next to her notepad and pen.
“Please you need to come here. We… we,” Mrs Conwell’s voice is trailing in and out of the phone as she walks in the house checking every window for signs of a mysterious assailant. She continues, “it’s Ella, she’s been receiving calls and messages from a number that we don’t know for the last hour telling her to finish what she started. They even have her email address. Please, we just want this to stop.”
Instinctively, Tina jumps out of her chair with the phone to her ear before Mrs Conwell can even finish telling her that Ella is shaking with fear. She grabs a small bag and fills it with a few necessities, then she rushes out of the door when she pauses to tell Mrs Conwell, “You need to turn off her phone, sit tight and keep an eye on Ella. I’m coming now.”
Tina was hoping for Ella to start talking, but she did not expect Ella’s tormentors to follow her home. She requests that Mrs Conwell send her the number of the mysterious caller. If she can trace the number, it may lead her directly to the suspect.
Within minutes of leaving her home, Tina arrives at Woods Hole, parks her black SUV and hops on the ferry to Oaks Bluff, a small town on Martha’s Vineyard island. She takes a seat at the front of the ferry, but sits far enough from either edge. She does not trust her sea legs to support her on such short notice. Holding her bag close to her stomach, she opts to not take something to ease her sea sickness because the trip is only an hour and a half. Soon she finds something to take her mind off her sea legs when tourists in dark sunglasses and winter coats board the ferry in droves. Some have bags with airport tags and others are not even carrying a bag – they must be on a day trip. As she takes in the smell of the salt water, she hears accents from various parts of the country and different languages. For a moment, she imagines that she is going to another country far from American soil. Her assignments on the force have kept her in America, apart from the odd trip across the Canadian border. But she would love to go to Europe. She would visit The Louvre in Paris and clop along the charming streets of Verona, re-living Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet before taking a ride on the gondola.
She often asked Tim to send her out of the country, but none of her assignments warranted her international travel. Tina remembers that she needs to notify Tim of her travels. “Oh, excuse me.” A man with rather large feet almost knocks her phone out of her hand as he shuffles past and sits next to her.
Tina’s big toe is throbbing inside her shoe, however, she offers a polite smile as she sucks in air deeply through clenched teeth and curls all her toes in.
“Hi, Tim, I just wanted to let you know that there’s been some development in the case and I’m on my way to Martha’s Vineyard.”
“Thanks, I got your report on what happened last night so I understand. And hey! I ran into Dale earlier today. I was picking up coffee from Dunkin’ and he said you two aren’t together anymore?”
“Yeah, things just didn’t work out like we had planned. You of all people know that.” Tina’s wondering where Tim is going with this.
“Yeah, I’m the king of not working out alright.” Tim chuckles. “But listen, I know it’s none of my business and all.” He pauses and sighs before he says, “You’re a great agent, James. I have no doubt you’re doing excellent work there. But, you need to allow yourself to get close to people and love fully, you deserve that.”
“Thanks, Tim.” Tina is not sure what to make of Tim’s statement except that he’s always looked out for her like a father-figure, even when she was just a rookie. He was even rooting for Dale and her to go far.
“I know I’m the last person to tell you about relationships, but I’ve seen you
and you have the potential to be the best. Over the years, I’ve seen many agents come and go, and the best agents are those who have great technical skills like you and learn to join them with compassion. Look, I just think something is holding you back and you need to find out what that is.” Then his tone changes from more serious and caring to his usual joking self. “Well, there goes my rant for the day!” He laughs again and wishes her well before they hang up.
An ominous feeling slowly sets heavily on Tina as the ferry pulls out of the port. Tina does not address it at first though it is familiar to her. She thinks of Tim’s words of wisdom and how she values what he has to say. He’s one of the few people who know her well and their serious conversations only happen when something really needs to be said. What could be holding me back?