A Striking Similarity

by Kevin Hopkins

  ‘Sir, this is absurd,’ Millar said more evenly, sitting back down. Penner moved around to stand behind him. ‘Tina and I barely talk. You think we would go out killing people for some daddy-daughter time? That makes no sense!’

  ‘Either way, until we talk to Tina and figure this all out, I am going to need your gun and your badge. I’m also going to want you to turn in your passport and stay in town,’ the Captain added. ‘Do it the easy way or I will get an arrest warrant. Unfortunately, there’s still enough evidence against you to build a case. Maybe you did the first three killings and Tina did the last one. I really don’t know. I have my doubts, but, well, I need to be sure.’

  ‘You have your doubts. Unbelievable,’ Millar said with a shake of his head. ‘Fine, whatever. Everything’s at home. I’ll turn them in first thing in the morning, once I figure out how Tina is.’

  ‘Good,’ the Captain seemed to have aged ten years in the last ten minutes. ‘We’ll get this figured out soon, Terry.’ Millar just stared at the table.

  ‘Sir,’ All three looked up at the sound of Grant’s voice. ‘Tina just came out of surgery, and she’s heading to recovery now.’ Grant approached the table, sensing the tension. ‘She should be awake enough to talk in an hour or so.’

  * * *

  Tina blinked several times, finally opening her eyes to see Millar sitting at the end of her bed. Behind him, a uniformed officer leaned against the door. Millar had asked the Captain if he could be alone in the room when Tina came around—he didn’t want her to panic at the sight of officers guarding her—this was going to be hard enough as it was. But, the Captain wouldn’t allow it. Millar was still under suspicion and if he let him be in the room alone with Tina when she came around, he might coach her on what to say. As a compromise, the Captain pulled all but one of the officers from her room.

  ‘Hi, Dad,’ Tina said, groggily. ‘I guess you know, huh?’

  Millar didn’t know how he should act. As a father, he wanted to comfort her as much as he could, but he couldn’t get over what she had done. She had taken four lives. Left four families without mothers, wives, daughters, aunts. And for what? That’s what he still didn’t understand.

  ‘Why, T? I don’t get it,’ Millar finally said, trying not to cry.

  ‘You were always more interested in your cases than anything else,’ Tina said quietly, just above a whisper. She struggled to keep her eyes open. ‘I thought this way, you would finally be interested in something I was doing.’

  Millar was taken aback by Tina’s revelation. He knew, thanks to the nature of his job, that he wasn’t always around. He knew it bothered Tina, but he had thought she understood how important his work was. And for that to be the reason she would kill? He couldn’t comprehend it.

  ‘I thought,’ Tina continued ‘I thought that you would have found it fun. Like when we used to play when I was a kid. I was leaving clues for you. They were pretty good, eh, Dad?’ Her eyes closed again and she fell back to sleep.

  Millar stared at her. He was torn with emotions. On the one hand, she was still a child. His child. As he watched her chest gently rise and fall, he thought she looked so much smaller and frailer than he knew she was. Her bald head looked so delicate on the hospital pillow. On the other hand, she was a mass murderer. What was her life going to be like from now on? He knew she was going to have a really hard time in prison—a teenaged bald girl was definitely going to get picked on. And with her temper, she would get into fights, prolonging her sentence. No chance of getting out early for good behaviour. And what about his life? Could he actually return to being a cop? Would the other cops accept someone whose kid was a murderer? And what about his writing career? That was probably all but over now. As soon as word got out, no one would pay to listen to him talk. He watched Tina sleep, she looked so innocent, like the child he remembered, like he loved. For a split second, he thought of taking a pillow and smothering her.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  Mid-morning the next day, Penner drove over to Millar’s house to collect his gun, badge and passport. Millar wasn’t thrilled with having to turn them in, but he understood. He’d had a long, private talk with the Captain before he’d left the hospital. He’d finally convinced the Captain that he’d had nothing to do with the murders, but protocol was protocol. Millar realized that, based on all of the evidence they had, he could have easily been locked up and charged. They had agreed that Millar would take a leave of absence.

  Over the following weeks, Millar met with his lawyer on a regular basis to discuss Tina’s case. She was still in the hospital, healing from an infection in her leg that had set in after the surgery. When she wasn’t in physical therapy, she was handcuffed to her bed. Any time she moved from her room to rehab, she was accompanied by an armed officer. She had been charged, but she still hadn’t been formally questioned. When she’d been charged, she had been fingerprinted, and her print was a match to the partial print on the button that Penner had found at the second murder scene.

  Finally, after a month of hospitalization, Tina was well enough to be released into police custody, and she was brought by a prisoner transport van to the precinct for questioning. Someone had tipped off Arden Wall, because he and his camera man had been waiting when the van arrived, trying to get footage of Tina as she was led away in cuffs. Arden’s black-eye had finally healed. It had taken several weeks, during which time he’d had to turn his head from the camera so it wasn’t noticeable.

  Inside the precinct, Tina was taken to one of the interrogation rooms, where Millar and his lawyer were already seated. Since Tina was still a minor, Millar needed to be present for any questioning. He was there as a father, although the detective side of him also wanted to hear her answers to the questions. An officer escorted Tina into the room, and attached a chain from her handcuffs and leg-irons to a ring on the wall. She looked thin in her baggy orange jumpsuit, Millar thought. She seemed to have lost several pounds over the last couple of months and the handcuffs dangled from her wrists. Millar winked at her as she sat down, making her smile.

  Almost immediately, the Captain and Penner walked into the room. Because they had both watched Tina grow up and were so closely tied to the case, they wouldn’t typically have been doing the questioning—but there was nothing typical about this case. This affected everyone in the department and they wanted to give Tina the best care they could, regardless of the circumstances. The Captain had discussed this with Millar beforehand and he had agreed. Millar knew the next several years were going to be dreadful for Tina, so anything they could do to make it slightly better for her, they would.

  ‘How you doing Tina? Your leg healed up?’ Penner asked as she sat down.

  ‘Not bad, I guess. It’d be nice to just go home, but I guess you need to ask me some questions first,’ Tina replied. Penner bit her lip as she considered Tina’s answer. It didn’t seem like she understood the gravity of the situation. ‘My leg’s not too bad,’ Tina continued. ‘Not as strong as it was, but the physio said it should come back with time. Just gotta keep doing my exercises.’

  ‘So, Tina, can you tell us why you did what you did?’ the Captain asked. Tina’s lawyer looked like he was about to interrupt, but Millar held him back.

  ‘She can answer. Go ahead, sweetie,’ Millar said.

  ‘Why I did what?’ Tina asked.

  The Captain looked at her, then to Millar. ‘Why you hit those women and brought them to different places around the city?’

  ‘Oh, that,’ Tina said. ‘Well, I wanted to spend time with Dad. He’s a detective, so I knew if there were bodies laying around the city, he’d have to go investigate. I wanted to play a game with him, so I left him clues.’

  ‘Like where you left the womens’ bodies?’ the Captain asked.

  ‘Yeah. Pretty smart, eh? I knew my Dad would figure it out,’ Tina said, smiling at Millar. Millar felt his chest tighten, and he couldn’t muster a smile back.

  ‘And the other clues?’ the Captain aske
d. The lawyer started to fidget again.

  ‘Umm, I left a button,’ Tina said. ‘It fell off Dad’s coat a long time ago and I kept it in a box in my closet. Can I get it back?’

  ‘Maybe later,’ the Captain said. ‘What else?’

  ‘I used Dad’s club. And his Taser. I thought he would figure that out, too,’ Tina said.

  ‘And what about the hair?’

  ‘What hair?’ Tina asked, looking at the Captain, then at Millar.

  ‘The hair you left at one of the scenes,’ the Captain explained.

  ‘I didn’t leave any hairs,’ Tina smiled. ‘If you haven’t noticed, I don’t exactly have any hair to leave.’

  ‘Okay.’ The Captain looked at his notes and then looked up at Millar. ‘Millar, I need you not to make any eye contact with Tina when I ask this next question, and no comments either, alright?’ Millar seemed confused but nodded his head.

  ‘Tina, did someone put you up to doing these things?’ the Captain asked. He could see the lawyer open his mouth and shot him a glare.

  Tina looked at Millar, but he just looked off to the side. ‘No, it was my idea.’

  ‘Was anyone there helping you?’ the Captain asked.

  ‘Don’t answer that!’ the lawyer finally made his first objection.

  ‘She can answer,’ Millar said, looking at the lawyer. ‘Go ahead, Captain. She can answer any question you ask.’

  ‘So, Tina, was anyone with you when you did these things?’ the Captain asked again.

  ‘No, I was by myself,’ Tina said, causing Millar to let out the breath he didn’t even realize he’d been holding.

  ‘So, how did one of your dad’s hairs end up on one of the ladies, do you think?’ Penner asked.

  ‘I don’t know. Dad’s hair ends up everywhere these days. I sometimes joke he’s going to have to borrow one of my wigs,’ Tina said, which made Millar smile. ‘It was probably just on my sweater or pants or something.’

  Finally satisfied that Millar had nothing to do with the crimes, the Captain continued the questioning. ‘Why did you choose the women you did?’ he asked.

  ‘I don’t think we should continue with the questioning,’ the Lawyer cut in.

  ‘I’m her Dad and I say it’s okay,’ said Millar. ‘Go ahead, you can answer.’

  ‘Well, in Dad’s books, it said that a single father Dad’s age would usually kill an acquaintance, probably because of an affair. I knew a lot of the moms from wrestling—I saw them after matches and in their houses when I was doing homework projects. Some of them seemed pretty unhappy, so I figured it would be easy to make it look like Dad was having an affair. Plus, it would also make my opponents sad. Probably easier to beat them next time we wrestled.’

  That last statement wasn’t good. It showed Tina had a motive in addition to premeditation. Up until this point, the lawyer had thought he might be able to argue emotional distress or something, but now, it was different. Millar knew it, too.

  ‘Alright, we’re done here. Terry, I really recommend we end this now,’ the lawyer said. Millar nodded.

  ‘Okay, not a problem.’ The Captain closed his notebook and put down his pen. ‘Did you want a couple of minutes with your client before we take her to her cell?’ he asked, as he and Penner stood up.

  ‘My cell. Wait, what’s going on, Dad? Can’t I just go home?’ Tina asked, starting to cry. ‘I thought I was going to get bail before my trial.’

  ‘You’re going to have to stay here for a bit, but we’ll see about getting you out as soon as possible, okay?’ Millar took her hands in his own and gently squeezed. ‘Stay strong, T. You’ll be fine.’ Millar stood up. He couldn’t look at Tina—he didn’t believe his own words.

  The lawyer put his arm around Tina to try and calm her down. He looked up at the Captain. ‘If we can have fifteen minutes or so, that would be appreciated, Captain. Thanks.’

  Millar followed the Captain and Penner out of the room and closed the door behind him. He looked through the one-way glass and saw Tina was still crying. It broke his heart.

  ‘So, I spoke with the Crown Attorney this morning. They were going to try and deny bail, but I think I was able to change his mind. It’s not going to be cheap, but I think you can swing it,’ the Captain said to Millar, as he stared at Tina. ‘He said they might be open to entertaining a plea deal.’ This got Millar’s attention.

  ‘What are they thinking?’ Millar asked.

  ‘Fifteen years. Three years would be in juvenile, then the rest in adult. With good behaviour, she could be paroled after ten,’ the Captain said, watching as Millar closed his eyes and leaned his head against the window. Millar wasn’t sure what to think. When he’d heard the words ‘plea deal’, he’d thought something like five years.

  ‘Fifteen years, that’s a lifetime for her,’ he said. ‘I don’t know. If she ended up doing the full sentence, she would be thirty. Even just doing ten she would be twenty-five.’

  ‘Think about it. She killed four people. They could easily ask for twenty-five years with no chance of parole at all. Or try for dangerous offender status. Then she may never see the outside,’ the Captain explained. ‘You really need to think about this, Terry. If she goes to trial, there isn’t much more I can do. It would be up to the judge.’

  ‘What if we can prove she has a head injury from wrestling, or something. Maybe show decreased mental capacity?’ Millar suggested, hoping beyond hope to find a solution that would get Tina home before she was an adult.

  ‘Has she had a history of concussions?’ Penner asked.

  ‘No, not really,’ Millar admitted. ‘I know she complained about a headache after one match, but that was it.’

  ‘You can try and find a doctor who would testify to that effect, but I don’t think it would hold up. I’m pretty sure there’s no way to see the damage concussions cause while someone is still alive. It wouldn’t count as evidence unless we had an autopsy of her brain,’ the Captain said. ‘Unless it’s been documented, it would be really hard for a judge to accept.’

  Millar was starting to feel his legs go numb and his chest tighten again. There really didn’t seem like much could be done. ‘I’ll talk it over with Tina and her lawyer and figure out our next steps.’ He took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. ‘Thanks for everything, Captain, Penner. I really needed you in my corner.’

  ‘I am truly sorry about all this, Terry,’ the Captain said, giving Millar an awkward pat on the shoulder. ‘I’m sure you can see why I had to consider your possible involvement. I’ll talk to the Crown again and make sure we can get your badge and passport back. Oh, and your gun. From what I can tell, they aren’t interested in charging you and, after what Tina said in questioning, I am sure you weren’t involved.’

  Penner tried to smile, but she couldn’t while watching her friend in so much pain. ‘We’ll be in your corner no matter what happens.’ She gave Millar a long drawn out hug before taking a step back. Millar smiled and shook the Captain’s hand. He turned and stood for a moment with his hand on the doorknob of the interrogation room, knowing he was going to have one of the hardest conversations of his life. He opened the door and stepped inside.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  Millar rushed into the courtroom. Traffic had been a nightmare and the last thing he wanted was to be late. It was important that he be there when Tina was brought in for sentencing. He hadn’t seen her for a couple of weeks—he’d made a decision not to see her every day. They both needed to get used to the fact that they wouldn’t always be able to see each other whenever they wanted. It was one of the harder parenting lessons he had to teach. He sat down in the front row, just in front of Penner and the Captain, and tried to catch his breath.

  ‘How you holding up?’ Penner asked, automatically picking a hair off of Millar’s suit jacket.

  ‘As good as anyone in this kind of situation,’ Millar said. ‘Thanks for being here.’

  ‘No worries. How’s Tina? Is it sinking in?’ asked Penner.

>   ‘I think so. She seems to be adjusting okay, but it’s only been eight months. She’s got a long time to go,’ Millar said. The judge had denied bail and Tina had been in custody since her arrest.

  The door at the side of the courtroom opened and Tina, still walking with a limp, was led in by a guard. She was wearing a blazer and skirt and a short, bobbed, blond wig—her favourite. She saw Millar and waved the best she could with her hands shackled. The guard led her to the defendant’s table and removed her cuffs. She reached up to smooth down her hair and turned to smile at Millar before sitting down next to her lawyer. He thought she seemed older already. They only had to wait a few minutes before the judge entered from another door.

  ‘All rise,’ the bailiff called out from beside the judge’s bench.

  The judge adjusted his robes and took his seat. ‘You may be seated,’ he said, reaching for his reading glasses. He opened up the file he had brought in with him and took a moment to read over the information. ‘I understand a deal has been reached between the Crown and the defense? Is this correct?’

  The Crown Attorney and Tina’s lawyer both stood up. ‘That’s correct, your Honour,’ the Crown attorney said.

  The judge looked back down at his papers and then looked directly at Tina. ‘Can the defendant stand, please.’ Tina stood up beside her lawyer. ‘Young lady, do you fully understand what it means by accepting this plea?’

  ‘Yes, your Honour,’ Tina said, looking over at her Dad. Again, he thought that she seemed to have aged considerably in the short time she was locked up. Millar couldn’t imagine what she would be like in ten years.

  ‘Right. So, how do you plead?’ the Judge asked.

  ‘Guilty, your Honour,’ Tina said. A wave of whispering rolled over the crowd in the courtroom.

  ‘Based on the joint recommendations of the Crown and the defense, I hereby impose a sentence of fifteen years. You will be remanded to custody in Juvenile Detention until your eighteenth birthday, at which point you will be transferred to adult detention for the remainder of your sentence.’ The judge took off his glasses. ‘I hope you use your time to take advantage of the help that will be offered to you, and to continue your education. You will have a lifetime ahead of you when you get out—you want to be ready for it. Good luck to you.’