The Promise

by Patrick Hurley

  His detective smiled, “Tell me that after the fact, Chief. I like our odds, but, the game is just beginning here.”

  “Maybe when we find out who is threatening Elie, we will find out who took Allison Taylor.”

  Gallagher walked over to the window and looked out, “She’s alive. I just feel it. But, whoever has her is making her life a living hell. I hope, by the time we find her, if we find her, she is not so scarred that she can’t enjoy the rest of her life. Every day that goes by, I feel like I’ve failed her all over again.”

  Parker joined him, “You’ll find her, Mike. You have to. Not just for her sake, but for your peace of mind. If she is alive, you will bring her home to her family and friends.

  If she isn’t, you’ll bring justice to the person who took her life away. I know you can survive all this pressure.”

  Gallagher laughed, “Pressure? I live for it. Gotta go see how my partner is doing. She’s the one who is feeling a lot more pressure than me. My life is a Sunday afternoon jog compared to hers right now.”

  With that statement, the detective headed out the door to his office.

  Chapter Seventy-five---Scandal

  As Gallagher returned to his office, he found Elie sitting at his desk. “Sure, go ahead and take over my office, partner. No problem!”

  Elie stood up immediately and moved away from his chair. “I’m sorry, Gallagher…”

  The detective smiled, “I was teasing. Sit back down. Are you feeling any better?”

  She smiled wanly, “Yeah, a little. I just need some air.”

  He moved over to the file cabinet and opened a middle drawer with one of his keys. He pulled out a folder, opened it and gave a copy of one of the sheets to his partner.

  “Here’s the address of our safe house,” he said handing it to her. He also pulled out a key from the folder. “And, here’s the key to the place. It’s on the west side of Athens, near the corner of Lee and Montgomery Streets. It’s in a guest cottage tucked away behind the main house and very private.

  It has a safe room with a concrete wall and steel reinforcements with a bathroom and an emergency phone that cannot be cut from the outside. The entire cottage is wired with an alarm system that rings here and to a security buzzer that rings inside the main house on the property. Four officers live there, within fifty feet of you. I think you’ll be fine.”

  Elie took the key and memorized the address. She then handed the sheet back to Gallagher. “Thanks Mike, I just need a couple of days to regroup. I‘m here for you if you need me 24/7. You know that.”

  Her partner smiled. “I know that.”

  Officer Simpson poked his head in, “Got some stuff here from the Dr. Morgan’s car, Mike. It’s been cleared from the lab. They said you could have it for your investigation.”

  He handed several folders to the detective. “Thanks, Jerry,” Gallagher said as he reached for the newly acquired evidence. He sat down at his desk and opened the first one. Elie came around and stood next to him as they perused the documents together. It didn’t take long for them to understand what they had on their hands…

  “Oh my god,” Gallagher murmured as he pulled out the contents of the first envelope, “Look at this!”

  It contained several pictures of a younger girl, high-school age, in various poses of lingerie and nudity. Elie had an immediate reaction to it, “I’d rather not look, Mike. This is gross!”

  She backed away. Gallagher put the pictures back into the envelope and opened the next one, same result with a different girl.

  One by one, as the envelopes were revealed, the detective saw pictures autographed to Dr. Theotis Morgan with an apology of some kind followed by 8x10 photos of them in physically compromised positions.

  Finally, after the last one, he carefully placed the envelopes in a neat stack and stood up to get some coffee. He could not believe what had just been handed to him. But, the implication here was clear, Dr. Morgan had been involved in some kind of extortion plot to force young women to take their clothes off for him.

  Gallagher was sick to his stomach. He wasn’t sure what the headmaster had done to get these illicit favors, but whatever it was, it had been pathetically successful.

  “I hate to say this, Elie, but I’m not that upset this guy is dead.”

  She looked at him unsmiling, “I echo your sentiments.”

  Gallagher stated the obvious concern, “The media would have a field day with this. We need to do what we can to keep as much of this as possible away from them. These girls are young and they have reputations and families. If they were being blackmailed or extorted, and I believe they were based on their notes to Morgan, they deserve privacy from this.”

  His partner was a little confused, “Can we keep this kind of evidence out of the paper? Doesn’t it relate to the investigation?”

  He shot back, “At this point, we can keep it quiet. If, down the road, it turns out that we have to reveal some or all of this to the public, we will. But, for now, I think we are safe in zipping it up. I’ll double-check with the chief and our attorneys. I hope they concur. This is ugly stuff.

  What a slime ball.”

  “Do you think it was one of the girls who shot him, Gallagher?”

  The detective thought for a moment before answering. Finally, he said, “I think it is unlikely one of them did. But, it may have been a boyfriend or a parent.

  The thing that throws that theory off, is the execution-type shooting. It was similar to the guy we found behind the stadium. I am going to wait to see if ballistics tells me it is the same weapon in both cases, but I bet my salary this month it was.

  If so, both victims were linked in some way. Whether or not they are linked to Allison Taylor is another matter. We may have two separate crime cases here, possibly three.”

  Elie agreed. “Don’t you just love your job, Gallagher!” She finally laughed. It felt good.

  Her laugh was infectious. Her partner joined her in the sarcastic mirth moment. “Yeah, it beats being a rock star, huh?”

  Elie retorted gleefully, “You are the rock star of the Athens Police Department, Gallagher!”

  The detective picked up a tennis racket he kept in the corner of his office and pretended it was a guitar, “Born to be wild!” he screeched.

  It was not a pretty sound.

  Agent Larsen looked at her watch, “Well, on that sour note, if you’re done with me, I need to get going. Do I just wait at this new place of mine until the officers bring over my stuff from the school?”

  Gallagher nodded, “Yep. Go buy some groceries. I have assigned to officers to always be with you, even when you sleep at night. They will be outside your door. Buy them some doughnuts, okay?”

  “I’ll buy all the cops, doughnuts, Mike. Thanks.” She went over and hugged him. The detective was touched by the gesture. “You’ll be all right, Elie. Before you know it, we’ll solve this case and you can go back to Virginia and lay on the beach until your next assignment.”

  “I’ll hold you to that promise, Gallagher!” She turned and looked at his leprechaun, “You heard it, too, Mick. Oh, great, now I’m talking to that silly thing…”

  “He’s not silly,” retorted the detective, “He’s a very wise Irishman!”

  She laughed again as she headed out, “Well, one out of two isn’t bad!”

  He threw one of his foam rubber baseballs at her head as she ducked easily. As she departed laughing, he continued singing to her, “Get your motor running,”

  She covered her ears, laughing as she made her way out. He was glad to see her smile come back.

  Chapter Seventy-six---Raven?

  “Gallagher, you have a phone call on line one. It’s the Clarke County Jail…”

  The detective picked up his phone, “Gallagher here.” The voice on the other end gave him a piece of troubling news, “Detective, this is Steve Daly at the county jail. We have a problem. Margaret Williams has escaped…”

  “What?” He screamed, “Ho
w, when?”

  “We realized she was missing about an hour ago. She was doing work detail in the kitchen and she must have walked right on out. We had a bread delivery truck leave about that time. She may have been in it. We’re not sure.”

  Gallagher just shook his head. “Well, she will turn up sooner or later. Keep me posted. We’ll put out an APB on her. Nice security you have over there, Daly. Remind me to not arrest anyone and send them over to you.”

  “Yes, sir,” whined Daly. “It wasn’t very professional of us. We’ll keep you posted.”

  The detective slammed down the phone. He walked briskly into Chief Parker’s office. “Margaret Williams just escaped from jail, boss. It appears she was in the kitchen and escaped with the help of a bread truck…”

  Parker smiled, “She must have had James Earl Ray as a mentor. That’s what he did once. They caught him, they’ll catch her. And, the next time, it will be harder for that young lady to escape…”

  Gallagher smiled tensely, “The irony is that I was going to let her go because of lack of evidence. Damn her!”

  The Chief nodded, “Maybe she just got scared and decided to take matters into her own hands. Keep me up to speed. Anything else going on, Mike?”

  “We are running DNA on Morgan and his car. Nothing else has surfaced there. I’m mainly concerned about Elie and her safety. Someone’s out there and after two homicides, there could be a third one real soon. I just feel it. I hope I’m wrong.”

  “I hope you’re wrong, too, Mike. The frustrating part is that we are not sure these murders have anything to do with the Taylor girl’s disappearance. If they don’t, it sure is an odd coincidence, huh?”

  Gallagher agreed, “The red Mercedes, Malcolm Oden, Dr. Morgan, Verna’s suicide, Allison Taylor’s alma mater, the Colony school, Raven, they all seem linked together.

  All I can do is keep digging and hope I get a break. Hell, even Mick’s confused at this juncture!” He tossed his little leprechaun into the air, “He is head over heels in frustration, aren’t you buddy. The mascot landed upside down in the detective’s hands. “Yep, you are!”

  Chief Parker noted, “They released Justin Shaw this morning from the hospital, Mike. His psychiatrist said he was good to go. The kid made a comment about, “getting away and smelling the hay!” I guess his family owns a horse ranch outside of town. Maybe that’s what the boy needs, a little fresh air and a renewal of some childhood memories.”

  “I would love to join him about now. I haven’t been on a horse in years. I’m allergic to ‘em. Hay, too. Darn allergies.”

  Just thinking about it, made Gallagher sneeze violently. “See, power of suggestion!” I love horses, I just can’t go near ‘em. Want me to name the Triple Crown winners of horse racing, Chief? Let’s see, Citation, Secretariat, War Admiral, Whirlaway,”

  His boss cut him off, “My favorite was Seabiscuit. Good movie, the people’s horse.”

  “Yeah, he was a feisty little soul. Speaking of movies, maybe I’ll take Alisha to one tonight, something romantic.”

  The Chief made a suggestion, “How about a Michael Moore documentary?” Gallagher laughed. “No thanks. I’m just grateful he hasn’t come down here to do a film on me and this investigation…”

  Parker smiled, “If he did, what would he call it?”

  His detective responded sarcastically, “Bowling for Clueless Detectives. I’ll talk to you later, boss”

  Walking out to his car he was joined by his new best friend.

  “Hello, Gallagher. I’m doing an exclusive interview with Raven in a few minutes. Care to give me a quote?”

  The detective whirled around, “Raven? You know where she is?”

  Rambo laughed, “Just teasin.”

  Seriously, can we sit down for five minutes on camera? I would like to discuss this case with someone other than my co-workers. I want the inside story on how the investigation is really going.”

  Gallagher was somber, “Please understand, this. We are conducting a very serious investigation here. I can’t tell you or anyone else what we have uncovered. Work with me, Rambo. I am not trying to be a jerk, but I am not your guy. Isn’t Beth Holloway or Bill O’Reilly available? They are very colorful.”

  “I don’t want colorful, man, I want factual. Just five minutes. That’s all I need. I swear. Come on, Gallagher.”

  Gallagher relented, “Okay, five minutes. Ask.”

  Rambo was ecstatic. He ordered the camera man to set up and did his sound check. In minutes, he was ready.

  “This is Dax Rambo with INN with Detective Michael Gallagher, chief homicide detective of the Athens, Georgia, police department. Thank you for joining us today, sir”

  Before Gallagher could respond, Rambo was already talking again, “I have a source who tells me Malcolm Oden faked his death. What do you know about that?”

  “The official police investigation’s view is that Malcolm Oden is dead. He committed suicide.”

  “What is the unofficial view, detective Gallagher?”

  “No comment.”

  “That no comment says a lot, detective. I notice you did not deny the possibility that Oden is somehow alive.”

  “I don’t have to deny it. No comment.”

  “What about the possibility that Allison Taylor ran away, that she was unhappy with her father who has been linked to a local scandal in the area and faked her abduction to be with Oden. Because of the fact she has run away in the past, doesn’t that scenario seem possible, detective?”

  “We are treating this as a criminal act. Not a runaway.”

  “But, we have several of her friends who have told us here at INN that Allison was miserable and wanted to start a new life somewhere else. Why won’t you even consider that possibility, Mr. Gallagher?”

  Gallagher looked at his watch, “We have no evidence that she ran away. We believe she was abducted.”

  “What do you make of the report that Justin Shaw, Redding Shaw’s son, was missing his bed check the night Verna Oden was found dead. Was that a coincidence? They were former lovers, you know? Care to comment on that?”

  The question hit Gallagher like a thunderclap. He tried to stay composed. “We have not heard that report. I suppose it will be easy to check out. Verna Oden committed suicide. That is the official coroner’s report.”

  “Did your coroner also report that Justin Shaw was found with a .38 caliber pistol in his possession during his stay at the hospital? Or did your team miss that little fact, too?”

  Gallagher had enough. “Mr. Rambo, I deal in facts not innuendos or anonymous reports. If you are so concerned about Justin Shaw and the coroner, I am sure they would be glad to talk with you. I have to get back to work now.”

  He stood up. Rambo instructed the camera to be turned off, “A little testy, Gallagher?”

  “Where do you get your crazy information, Rambo? There is an abducted girl out there and you are throwing crap at the walls hoping something will stick. I thought you had more professionalism than that.”

  “Come on, Mike,”

  “It’s Detective Gallagher!”

  “Detective, the news business is based on some facts and a lot of bluffing, despite what the pompous assholes at some of our more serious competitors tell us.

  We don’t know most of what is going on, so we dig and nag and dig some more and make someone crazy enough to react with an accidental admission of truth. Hey, I owe you one for the interview. I hope you find the girl. I just heard some things,”

  “You don’t owe me anything. Try to keep your bluffing to a minimum, Rambo. There is a grieving family out there. Try to remember that. Later.”

  As he walked off as he heard one final statement from Dax Rambo, “You really do need to check out Justin Shaw, Gallagher. I was telling the truth about the gun.”

  Chapter Seventy-seven---mental Anguish

  As Gallagher drove home he kept thinking about all the developments in the case up to that point. “I am missing something
here. With all these clues and developments, there is an answer hidden among them. What is it?”

  His mind raced from one development to the next from the first day that Allison Taylor vanished off the earth. Malcolm Oden, Dr. Morgan, a dead professor in England, Odin and the Nordic symbols, the raven necklace, Redding Shaw’s involvement with high school girls, Justin Shaw’s nervous breakdown, the death threat to Elie, Verna’s apparent suicide, the unknown man he observed at Verna’s funeral who was later found shot to death in the Mercedes behind the stadium, Raven’s lack of alibis and suspicious behavior, Archer Taylor’s heart attack, The Promise and the prostitution ring, illicit pictures of Allison and several other girl’s from the Colony, the mortician who filed a conflicting death report on Malcolm Oden and soon after was found dead and now, Raven’s escape from jail.