by William Mark
“Okay,” she said. “Let me go. I’ll handle it. You just stay there with Josh and don’t worry about anything.”
“All right. Goodbye.”
“Goodbye.”
It was hard to trust her words that she would take care of everything. It was an extremely tall order from his perspective, but he knew Alexis Vanderhill probably had more at stake than anyone else on the team. He found comfort in her confidence over the phone and hoped it was genuine and not a front used to put him at ease. Curt shook off the exchange with Mason and stopped short of the living room, taking in the scene of his family together again under one roof. He prayed it would stay that way.
Chapter 34
In the days following the recovery of Joshua Walker the story garnered national media attention, headlined with the heroics of a Tallahassee police detective who went on the solitary search for his missing son. It tugged at the hearts of parents across the nation who identified with the actions of the distraught father. Curt declined doing interviews from all who tried and refused to allow anyone to talk to his son. He didn’t want any attention or glory. He had the only thing he wanted, his son. The media got agitated at his refusal, but after it was revealed that Josh was subjected to possible molestation from his abductors Glenn Gregory and Tobias Helton, the story took a dark turn, and most reporters understood the father’s reluctance.
The Valdosta detectives in charge of the case worked closely with the detectives from Tallahassee. The perpetrators were charged with multiple counts of sexual battery of a minor in Georgia but were charged with the kidnapping in Tallahassee. Surprisingly, both jurisdictions worked hand-in-hand to make the best case possible and send the men to prison. The state where they served their time didn’t matter, only that they served a lot of it.
Overwhelming evidence suggested that Josh had been living at both of the apartments belonging to Gregory and Helton. The photographic evidence of sexual activity was undeniable and the biggest piece of proof beyond a reasonable doubt for the prosecution in the sexual battery side of the case. On one hand, Curt was grateful that he found those pictures on Gregory’s phone, but he would be forever scarred at the same time. Images like those can’t simply be erased, and to a father, they were beyond pure torture. The detectives were able to use the video footage from the Governor’s Square Mall against Gregory, which also proved he was familiar enough with Tallahassee to achieve the abduction three years prior.
It proved to be more difficult finding the evidence linking Helton to Tallahassee, until the detectives learned that both men had lived in Tallahassee prior to the abduction and had just relocated to Valdosta several months prior. Gregory had lived in an apartment that was near the softball complex, and it was assumed that he would’ve been familiar with the park. It was unclear what Helton did for employment, but Gregory was a runner at a local law firm, while he worked toward his paralegal degree from a local trade college.
When detectives searched Gregory’s apartment, they found suspicious blood droplets in the kitchen. Samples were examined and collected. After some consideration, it was concluded that Gregory must have cut himself while preparing food before his encounter with Curtis Walker. In a photo album, which Gregory apparently was fond of, as it was displayed on his coffee table, detectives located a picture that appeared several years old; it was of Gregory and a small dog playing in a park. When they were shown the picture, the Tallahassee detectives were able to peg the backdrop as the dog park at Tom Brown Park, and that served as yet another piece for the prosecution.
In Helton’s apartment, there were no such damaging photographs, but something else was found that twisted the stomachs of the detectives and made them hate the men even more. There were some toys used as marital aids, which after DNA testing, proved they were used on Josh on at least one occasion.
“I hope these guys burn in hell. Sick fucks….” The Valdosta detective’s entire body cringed when he found the evidence in Helton’s apartment.
After Gregory was released from surgery to repair several fractures to his orbital and cheek bones, he tried to claim that he was abducted by the boy’s father and set-up in the crash. When asked about the abduction, sexual battery, and the evidence on his phone, he remained silent. Based on the case as it stood, it was clear to everyone involved; the outlandish accusations of torture and kidnapping were going to be ignored. The Valdosta authorities balked at his story of the crash being staged. It was obvious he had tried to make an escape using Curt’s vehicle. The other driver swore the crazed man ran a stop sign and smashed into her. The police and prosecution never looked twice at Gregory’s accusations and focused solely on the case against him instead.
***
Louis Melton was following Curt around Valdosta by watching the triangulation of his phone as Melinda navigated the Mercedes Sprinter through town. Curt had just hung up on Rachel when Gregory came home to his apartment, and the team rushed to try and help. They had just arrived in Tallahassee behind Curt and continued on to Valdosta following the phone call.
As he watched the computer screen, Louis called out the directions and Melinda followed, trying to catch up with Curt. Rachel tried calling back, but he wasn’t answering. Just before getting into town, Curt’s signal moved from an apartment complex to the area of a large intersection near the Interstate. As they tried to pinpoint his location near a shopping mall, the signal suddenly moved down the street.
Melinda was about to pull back into traffic to follow the signal when Rachel spotted the nose of the Crown Vic in the parking lot of a Taco Bell.
“Hey, there’s his car!”
Melinda pulled the van into the parking lot and parked near the Crown Vic. It was unoccupied, and Curt was nowhere to be seen.
As they got out, the sounds of excessive honking from the highway were from confused and irritated motorists blasting their horns at Curt as he chased after Helton and Josh in the gold SUV. However, the team ignored the honks assuming that it was just the mindset of pissed off Valdosta drivers during rush hour.
Louis got out and confirmed it was Curt’s Crown Vic and even spotted a phone on the front seat. He knew it wasn’t Curt’s from the look of it.
“Maybe he got something to eat?” Louis said, staring up at the Taco Bell sign.
“I’ll go check inside,” said Beth.
Rachel walked around the car looking for anything suspicious and trying his cell phone one more time. Again, no answer. She opened up the car and looked around inside. As she backed out, she noticed a small pile of vomit, which she nearly stepped in, on the ground.
“Eww, gross!”
Just then, she heard an odd thumping sound coming from the trunk. She looked around to see if the noise was coming from somewhere other than the Crown Vic, but it was parked by itself with the nearest car three stalls away. She listened carefully as an uneasy feeling grew in the pit of her stomach.
Thump, thump. She saw the car move slightly from the shifting weight in the trunk.
“Shit…Uh…Louis?”
“Yeah?”
“Open the trunk.”
Louis heard the thumps too. He looked at Rachel warily and reached in the car for the trunk release button. Melinda walked over and stood next to Rachel, ready to face whatever or whoever was in the trunk. After looking around for any onlookers, she nodded for him to hit the button.
As the trunk lid opened, a dank foul odor of sweat, urine, and wet metal emanated from within the trunk. The image of Glenn Gregory beaten, bruised, and bound shocked both Rachel and Melinda. Rachel reached down and pulled the tape from his mouth.
“Ahh, thank you. Thank you so much. Please, you have to get me out of here; this madman broke into my house, kidnapped me, and beat me half to death. Please, help me out, please!”
Rachel and Melinda exchanged hesitant looks with each other but didn’t make any moves to help Gregory out of the trunk.
“Are you Glenn Gregory?” asked Rachel.
The man’s
pleading face, seemingly innocent, turned a few shades paler at the sound of his own name. He figured if they knew his name, they were probably helping the man who put him there, and finding him wasn’t his good fortune.
Before he decided to answer, Gregory let out a loud scream for help, but Melinda and Rachel both reacted at the same time and shut the trunk, muffling his screams. Louis stood off to the side in amazement as Beth came out of the restaurant, letting the team know Curt wasn’t inside. She had heard the murmurs inside the restaurant of some guy in a trench coat chasing a car down the highway just moments ago.
“Sounds like Curt found another suspect,” Rachel surmised. Louis took the phone from the front seat and opened it up. He saw the images Curt had found in a hidden folder and crinkled his face in disgust as he recognized Curt’s son in the images. He showed them to Rachel and Melinda who were equally repulsed by the pictures.
Louis took the phone inside the van to download its contents for further dissection. As he hooked it up to his machine, he heard on the police scanner that officers were responding to a kidnapping call where the father of the missing person had one man in custody. The dispatcher added that the boy was also on scene. Louis instantly smiled at the thought of Curt finding his son.
“Hey, he found him. He found Josh! The police are on their way. Looks like they’re a few miles down the road.”
They all smiled, knowing how much Curt had lost in his search for his son. They hugged and quietly congratulated each other in his absence. But there was a problem still to be dealt with before they could celebrate too much.
“What do we do with this one?” Rachel asked. “Only a matter of time before they come here looking for him.”
“What do you mean this one?” Beth perked up. She hadn’t seen the battered suspect in the trunk yet. Louis explained, and she took a look for herself. She grew angry at the thought of Curt torturing this man. The impact of the torture didn’t lessen when Rachel described the pictures of Josh that were on Gregory’s phone.
“We call the police and let them find him like this; that’s what we should do. To hell with Curt. If he’s going to do stuff like this, then he has to pay the consequences.”
“No. I don’t think so,” Rachel countered. “He’s been through enough. I’m not saying what he did was right, but what if that taints the case on his son? Then it will all be for naught, and there will be one more child molester still on the streets. You don’t know what’s it’s like to be pushed to the brink. We’re giving him a pass. So let’s think.”
Beth thought for a moment but remained angry. “So, what do we do? Hell, he’s probably coming back to kill him. You want to help him out with that too?”
“No, don’t be absurd. We’re not going to kill him, but I think I have a way we can keep the case intact and still have the police come get him.”
“Are you serious? We’re going to help him out after he did something like this? Did you actually look at that guy; he’s a bloody mess.”
“I’m down with whatever you have in mind, Rachel,” Louis said.
“Me too,” Melinda joined in. Beth looked at her incredulously. “Sorry, honey. After what he’s been through and for what this guy has done to his son…I’m with Rachel.”
The vote was settled, and Rachel explained the plan, but they needed to move the Crown Vic before anyone noticed.
“Okay, did he leave the keys for us?”
“No, I checked already,” Louis said.
“Hold on.” Melinda walked back to the van and got something out of her bag. She returned with a set of keys and gave them to Rachel.
“I made a copy a while back. I needed it a few times when he was on one of his binges, but it’s proved its worth at this moment, right?” Rachel smiled.
Melinda assumed the persona of Brenda Martin and was dropped off at the nearest car rental place. She rented a mid-sized SUV and met up with the team a few blocks away in a quiet neighborhood. Rachel, with the help of Louis and Melinda, managed to get the squirming and bloody Gregory out of the trunk and into the driver’s seat of the Crown Vic. Next, Rachel jumped in the seat of the rental and backed it up enough of a distance away to make a difference. She tightened her seatbelt and prayed this worked. She stomped the accelerator to the floor and headed straight for the Crown Vic. She braced herself for impact as she pushed the SUV up to nearly forty-five miles an hour and T-boned Curt’s car with Gregory in the driver’s seat. The crash sent Gregory flying to the other side of the compartment and back to the world of the unconscious. Rachel wondered for a moment if she killed him from the impact, but Melinda checked his pulse and found one. She was almost disappointed that he wasn’t dead.
After calling the police and reporting the crash, Melinda removed Gregory’s cuffs and replaced them in front of his body. Louis gave Gregory’s phone back, and Melinda made sure the phone was left out in the open where the police would easily find it. Louis had taken the liberty of removing the pass code feature and moved the hidden pictures to a more easily accessible location. The police responded quickly, and only Brenda Martin remained on scene with the story of how she simply failed to see the stop sign and accidentally slammed into the Crown Vic. When she went to check on the other driver, she noticed he had been handcuffed and figured he was some escaping felon.
The cops quickly put the pieces together and matched up Gregory to the kidnapping call a few miles away. Rachel’s plan had taken root and was working so far. Louis kept listening to the scanner and heard that the illusion of Gregory stealing the car to make an escape was holding up. The hope was that the injuries he sustained would be believed to be caused by the crash and not torture at the hands of Curtis Walker.
After ensuring that Gregory was hauled off by the Valdosta police, the team headed over to the apartment complex where Curt had found Josh. Melinda parked by the entrance where the media had gathered and set up cameras. Rachel got out and saw Curt kneeling next to his son amongst the chaos and the sea of lights. She saw Curt talking to a patrol sergeant with a confused look on his face. Rachel pulled her phone out of her pocket and texted him a simple message. After bearing witness to the humbling scene, the team was ready to call it a night. They agreed to continue with the mission in the morning.
“Can we go back to Taco Bell? I’m hungry!” Louis whined.
Chapter 35
Bitter sweet emotions brought Alexis Vanderhill to the front door of Curtis Walker. She wanted to help his family enjoy their joyous reunion after the hellish nightmare they had been living, which she had seen first-hand, but she had official business as well. Word of the torture he had inflicted on Glenn Gregory reached back to her. This was unacceptable for the team she had worked so hard to create. Emotional reactions like that left ripples on the pond surface that could not be undone. Reactions like that would lead to the team’s exposure. Alexis saw herself and the team on the front lines of a battle that was being fought unbeknownst to the other side. The numbers favored the opposition, but a precision strike from within the shadows was what gave them the advantage. Secrecy and anonymity were their biggest weapons in the fight against the darkness. If they were taken away, the battle was lost. Despite Curt being her best asset, she would cut him loose before she ever let that happen.
Alexis awaited the answer to the doorbell while the rest of the team stood behind her. The door opened, and a handsome man in a sharp, navy blue, pinstripe suit stood in the threshold. He shot Alexis a million dollar smile reserved by politicians for their constituents and playboys. She’d been around enough politicians to easily peg Thomas Pittman as one of those politicians.
“Excuse me,” Alexis said, as Pittman was on his way out.
“Oh…excuse me.” Pittman extended his hand and introduced himself as State Senator Thomas Pittman. Alexis was familiar with the name. He had maintained his “tough on crime” stance and was pushing for harsher gun penalties in the current legislative session. He was good-looking and gaining popularity amongst his
peers. Rumor had it that he was aiming for a seat in Washington.
“Nice to meet you, sir. Alexis Vanderhill.” The two shook hands, and Curt stepped up from inside the house to greet Alexis and the team.
“Thomas was there for us when Josh went missing. We were working a case, and he was on the city council at the time. Anyway, he has more important things to do than to hang out here.”
“Nonsense, Curt. When I heard what happened, I knew I needed to come see you. I’m glad he’s back in your arms safely. If you get any flak from these reporter hounds, you let me know.”
“Yes, sir. Thanks.”
“What line of business are you in, ma’am?” Pittman turned to Alexis as he walked past. He was impressed by the sophistication and demeanor to which she held and never passed up the opportunity to gain more political support.
She met him with a devilish grin, “Reporter hound…but I’m a woman, so that would make me a reporter bitch!”
Pittman managed to hold onto his smile despite having inserted his foot into his mouth. He looked back at Curt, questioning her presence.
“She’s fine; she’s a friend. Thank you, sir.”
“Okay, don’t hesitate to call, okay? And wish Josh and Tracy well for me; I’m sorry I missed them.”
“Will do.”
Pittman left and passed by the rest of the team as they were being invited into the Walker home. Beth Young stood in front of Rachel Goodwin and caught a flirtatious look from the State Senator as he walked by. The attention made her smile, which she held until he walked away. Rachel watched the exchange, and something registered inside of her that felt odd. She ignored it and joined the team inside.
Curt welcomed the team, explaining that Josh and Tracy had run to the grocery store, and they would be back soon. Curt had insisted on going, but Tracy argued and ultimately won. She was determined to impose her motherly love without Curt constantly hovering over the boy. He explained that Josh had been up for most of the night with nightmares and terror sweats. It was something Curt was afraid would happen, given the circumstances.