Tangled

by Uc Amalu, Jr

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  A dim porch light beside the white front door lit the small

  cottage style house. A quaint wrap-around verandah

  added a touch of charm to the otherwise plain abode.

  Through the darkness, Ben saw the silhouette of a set of

  what he thought were a child’s swings, in the yard beside

  the house. A small rock lined pathway led from the

  footpath to an outdoor mat at the base of the front steps.

  The Saunders home was by no means a palace, but it

  looked homey enough.

  He glanced in his rear view mirror; still no sign of Jay

  and it was now ten o’clock. Even though he was expected,

  he didn’t want to keep the Saunders’ up any longer than

  was necessary. Under the circumstances, he didn’t want to

  keep them waiting at all. Ben rolled up his window and

  got out of his car, he would give Jay just a few more

  minutes to show and then he would go it alone. His

  watch captivated him, the soft iridescent glow

  mesmerised him when he glanced down at it once more.

  The squealing of tyres on asphalt soon broke this

  hypnosis… Jay had finally arrived. He pulled in behind

  Ben and got out of his cruiser, his boots clicking when

  they hit the footpath below him.

  "Where have you been? It’s just after ten."

  "Damn kids and their street racing…"

  "Never mind. Let’s just get this over with shall we?"

  "Let’s!" Snapped Jay, flicking a cigarette butt to the

  ground and stomping it out with his foot.

  "Don’t you know how to use an ashtray, Jayy?"

  "Gees, who rubbed your lamp the wrong way tonight?

  asked Jay, ‚I was having a blissful evening, but it’s

  souring by the second."

  Ben stood still, his head lowered to the footpath and his

  shoulders slumped forward. "Sorry, mate. It’s been a

  rough night and the whole meeting with Anna. You know

  how it is." he replied.

  "Yeah, couldn’t have been an easy thing for ya to do, Ben.

  Maybe I shoulda just gone and done it myself, eh?"

  "No, I think I needed to do it. I have to get some

  perspective in my life and this was a good start, I guess."

  He straightened up and breathed out loudly, a groan

  escaping him. "You ready?"

  Jay nodded that he was.

  "Let’s do it."

  The two men marched up the pathway, climbed the three

  steps and stopped at the front door. Ben pressed a

  button marked ‘Saunders’ on the architrave around the

  door. They heard the chimes ring out inside the house

  and a minute later middle-aged man appeared in front of

  them.

  "Mr. Saunders?" Ben asked.

  "Frank Saunders, that’s right," he replied. "You must be

  Detective Payne?"

  "Yes, and this is my partner Detective Marnotti." Ben gestured

  to Jay.

  "Please, won’t you come inside?" Frank stepped aside and

  held the door open for them to pass through and pointed

  them to the living room on the right. He closed the door

  and walked into the living room behind them. "Take a

  seat," he said, settling into a recliner. "Janice," he yelled,

  seemingly into the air, "the Detectives are here."

  A short, petite woman of about fifty or so emerged from a

  doorway behind him, bringing with her a tea tray and a

  plate of biscuits. She made her way to the living room and

  placed the tray on the coffee table in front of the three

  men before seating herself on a sofa near her husband.

  "Help yourselves, Detectives," she softly said.

  "This is my wife, Janice," Frank made a formal introduction.

  "Janice this is Detective Payne and Detective Marnotti."

  Janice smiled politely and gave them a simple nod to

  greet them. Jay and Ben did the same.

  "Now what’s this about Kylie-Anne? What trouble is that

  girl in now?" Frank asked.

  Jay looked at Ben and then back at Frank. "She been in a

  bit of trouble before?"

  His hands slapped his thighs and he animated a laugh,

  "Trouble! The girl’s full of it. She breeds it like a sickness."

  "How so?" Ben joined the conversation.

  "Drugs, boys, wild parties, stealing and that’s just for

  starters," he looked over at Janice before continuing. "And

  then there’s Ashleigh of course."

  "Ashleigh?" Jay queried him.

  "Our grand daughter, she lives with us," Janice whispered.

  "Kylie-Anne was only sixteen when she had her," said

  Frank, looking over at Janice. Her head bowed as if in

  shame of her daughter. "She never spoke much to anyone

  about Ashleigh. To her, she simply didn’t exist. ‚Up until

  she had Ashleigh we didn’t think that an ounce of

  goodness could come of that girl. Every time we’d set

  boundaries and rules for her, she’d go out of her way to

  break them. If we gave her an inch she took a mile. I got

  her a job once, when she was seventeen, checking books

  in and out at the campus library…"

  "The University library?" Jay asked.

  "Yes. I convinced them she would be perfect for the task,

  but Kylie-Anne… Well she had other ideas. She was

  escorted off the campus on the first day for selling weed

  to the students in her lunch hour. Made a mockery of me

  she did."

  "What happened then?"

  "Naturally I told her to pack her things and leave. I wasn’t

  going to have her around young Ashleigh, dragging her

  up in that sort of lifestyle."

  "So she left? Just like that?"

  "Just like that. Exactly like that!" Frank re-iterated.

  "How long ago was that?"

  "It will be just over three years ago now, if I remember

  correctly."

  "And you’ve had no contact with her since?" Jay asked.

  Frank nodded his head, "That’s right."

  "What about Ashleigh?" Ben began. "Surely she called or

  wrote to check up on her own daughter?"

  "Well that’s what you would expect from any decent

  mother isn’t it? Not Kylie-Anne. She never cared for the

  child from the very beginning. Couldn’t wait to be rid of

  her, that’s the cold hard truth of the matter. Kylie-Ann was

  just a baby who had a baby. Too young for any

  responsibility, let alone that of motherhood."

  Janice leaned forward in her chair, her mouth opened, but

  she shut it as quickly as the fleeting thought that touched

  her.

  Ben looked at Jay. The sadness in his eyes deepening,

  knowing what they were about to tell the Saunders’ of

  their daughter’s fate.

  "What is it, Detectives?" Janice stared at them. "Oh, it’s

  something terrible this time isn’t it?"

  Unable to face her, Ben dropped his gaze to the carpet.

  Jay leaned forward in his seat, looked at the couple

  before him and said, "I am deeply sorry to tell you both,

  but…"

  "But what?" Janice interrupted, her face creased with

  concern.

  Jay looked over to Frank, his expression blank. "I’m

  afraid your daughter is dead."

  Silence covered the small living room like a shroud
,

  neither parent able to utter a sound, shock gripping them

  like a vice. Ben and Jay both remained quiet, awaiting

  the outburst of why’s and how’s and the eventual

  mutterings of denial. They had been bearers of bad news

  enough times to know that very few families

  cope with the death of a loved one without some form of

  non-acceptance, even the ones that had been feuding.

  They knew the storm was brewing and that it would soon

  be unleashed before their very eyes.

  "Was it drugs?" Frank spoke first, his expression still void

  of any emotion.

  Janice looked to them for the answer; the tears from her

  green eyes began streamed down her cheeks. Her thin

  lips trembled with sadness.

  "I’m sorry," said Ben. "Kylie-Anne was murdered."

  "Oh, dear God no!" Janice crumbled on the sofa. "It can’t

  be her. How do you know it’s her? You must be wrong."

  Frank left his recliner and sat beside his wife, taking her in

  his arms he rocked her gently and kissed her forehead.

  Jay cleared his throat and said, "She has been identified

  by someone who we have questioned in regards to her

  death."

  "We are so very sorry for your loss," soothed Ben, wishing

  he could take away their pain.

  "Who…" Frank choked out. "Who did this?"

  "Unfortunately we haven’t found the killer yet," Jay

  answered him.

  "We are using every resource available to us to find who’s

  responsible for your daughters death." Ben interjected.

  His assurance sounded weak and he knew it was. They

  had been investigating these murders, including Tessa’s,

  for nearly a week now and they were getting nowhere.

  Frank nodded his head, "You make sure you catch this

  animal, Detectives. No matter what our grievances were,

  she was still our daughter."

  "We understand," whispered Ben. He took a deep breath

  before asking the cruellest of all questions. "We will need

  to ask that one of you come down and formally identify

  Kylie-Anne’s body as soon as you are able. I realise this is

  a difficult time for both…"

  "What time and where, Detective?" Frank asked, cutting

  him short.

  "Tomorrow morning? The city morgue." Jay informed

  him.

  "I’ll be there at nine."

  "Once again, we are so very sorry for your loss, Mr. And

  Mrs. Saunders," said Jay, rising from his seat. Ben did

  the same. "We will see ourselves out."

  Janice looked up from behind her husbands shoulder.

  "Please find whoever did this to our little girl." Frank

  tightened his embrace and rocked her some more, his

  own heart aching with sorrow.

  Ben and Jay left the Saunders to console each other and

  made their way back to the street.

  "Christ, I hate that part of the job," cried Jay, lighting a

  cigarette when they reached their cars.

  "So many people suffer from the reckless acts of others,"

  said Ben, staring out into the darkness. "We need to get

  this peanut Jayy, how many more are going to die if we

  don’t?"

  Jay sucked back hard on his cigarette before blowing the

  smoke back out into the air. "We will my friend… we will."

  Ben rubbed his forehead and his eyes be-gan to squint.

  Reaching into both pockets, he was unable to find a card

  of his painkillers. "Bloody brain bleeders!" He cussed.

  "You ok, Ben? I think you better get home before it sets in

  for good. You want me to drive ya or are ya right?"

  "Thanks, Jayy. I’ll be ok." Ben assured him, waving his

  hand dismissively.

  "I know how ya feel mate. My guts is turning over just

  thinking about seeing that girl lying on Augies steel table.

  Here we are trying to tell that poor couple that their

  daughter is dead and all I can picture is the way she was

  cut up." Jay puffed harder on his cigarette, "thank God

  they ain’t gonna be seeing that part of things." He

  gestured back towards the house they had just come

  from.

  "Hell. I’m sorry, Jay. I hadn’t thought about the effect it

  would have on you. Coming here, to see the parents I

  mean."

  "It’s all part of the job, Ben. I can handle it."

  Ben opened his car door and slid inside, "You’re really

  okay?"

  "Hey, I’m fine. Or at least I will be when we nail this warped

  unit."

  "I’ll see you tomorrow then?" Ben smiled weakly at him.

  "Hell yeah!" cried Jay "We got one sick puppy to catch

  and we ain’t gonna do it sittin’ at home twiddling our

  thumbs."

  Ben’s started the Chevy and put it in gear. "Tomorrow

  then." He said before driving off down the street and into

  the night.

  He looked back at the Saunders home in his rear view

  mirror. Ben thought of the husband and wife inside,

  grieving horribly for the daughter they haven’t seen in over

  three years. They must have so many things they wish

  they could say to her now, so many wrongs they will never

  get the chance to right. He could never begin to under-

  stand the depths of despair they were in, losing a child at

  any age would be a gut-wrenching ordeal. His

  determination to find this killer was mounting every

  minute. One way or another, he will solve these murders,

  no matter how long it took.