Finding Jared

Skyler stepped out of her car and locked it before she walked over to the door. She took hold of the handle only to remember she was irresponsible enough to forget to lock the door the previous evening. She could only hope her boss wouldn’t make this discovery. A mistake such as this one could easily end her career. Granted it was not much of a career, but it was temporary. Skyler wanted it to come to an end as soon as it was the right time. Today, this morning, was everything, but the right time.

The blonde pushed open the door and her hand automatically reached for the light switch. The sight made her beyond nauseous. Her car keys fell to the floor and she covered her mouth with both hands. She tried to regain control of her breathing as her fingers pushed the buttons on her mobile phone. She hit the dial button and turned her back on Tenley because she couldn’t stand to look at the corpse for another second. It was awful and she definitely wouldn’t be able to stomach it. She felt the color leave her face as she waited for someone to answer her call.

The blonde tried, but she couldn’t deny the rush of memories. The coffins were open at the funeral of her parents. They passed away in a car accident on their way home on a stormy night years ago. She could remember how devastated she was, but she wasn’t alone in the nightmare. Her sister, Brooke, experienced the same loss and their grandmother, Katherine, lost her son and his wife. After the death of their parents, Skyler and Brooke went to live with Katherine in her house.

She didn’t have time to stay in the past as someone answered the phone, “What is your emergency?” A monotonous voice wanted to know and Skyler was overcome with a difficulty to find the right words. “What is your emergency?” The voice repeated and the blonde glanced briefly over her shoulder at Tenley. It was gruesome. It was unfair. Tenley did not deserve to die this way. No one deserved to die this way.

“I…” Skyler trailed off and forced herself to look away from the lifeless body. “I need to report a murder…” She said and tears ran down her cheeks. She couldn’t do this. She couldn’t be this person. She couldn’t deal with this. She couldn’t be the person who stumbled upon a corpse and did not feel anything. She needed to cry. She needed to be human. She didn’t want to cry because it would mean she’s weak, but she needed to cry. She needed to let it out. She needed to feel, even if the experience would be beyond awful. She gave the address to the person on the other end and ended the call.

Skyler waited outside for the police to arrive. Firstly, she couldn’t stand to be in there. It was much too awful and she simply couldn’t look at Tenley’s body again. She was already sick to her stomach. Secondly, she didn’t want to do anything to interfere with the crime scene and she definitely didn’t want to ruin any of the evidence before the police arrived on the scene. She felt as though she would vomit at any moment, but tried to keep all of her emotions under control for the moment the police would arrive and she would have to answer their questions. Police cars arrived minutes later and a forensic team went inside as the chief of police walked over to Skyler.

“Skyler…” Thaddeus said to have her focus her attention on him and not on any of the commotion around them. “Are you okay?” He wanted to know worriedly and Skyler hesitantly nodded. She couldn’t help but think how far from fine she was. But she was strong, especially after the death of her parents. She would be able to process it. She would be able to say she was perfectly fine one day and it wouldn’t even be a lie. “Would you be able to come back to the station to write a statement?” He asked and Skyler nodded with more certainty than the last time.

Thaddeus Dreighton led the blonde over to his car and held open the door for her. He could tell she was in absolutely no condition to drive, but still he wanted for her to be far away at the moment. “I’m sorry for what you must have seen,” He said truthfully and started the car. He knew it was unpleasant to see a corpse, even more so for those who didn’t share his career. It was unpleasant for him as well, but if he could save someone else he would do whatever was necessary, even if it would be unpleasant for him. He only wanted there to be a way to spare someone else the heartache of losing someone. But there would never be a way.

At the station, Thaddeus brought Skyler over to a rookie cop to write her statement before he retreated to his office. He would much rather do anything else and it was the worst part of his career, but someone needed to inform Tenley’s loved ones of her death. He stared long and hard at the telephone, but he couldn’t make himself dial a number. These phone calls never became any easier, but it was still his responsibility. He picked up the phone and dialed a number. It was hard, but he was able to tell Tenley’s parents of her passing. The phone call ended and Thaddeus knew it was inevitable, but he would have to tell his best friend he wouldn’t have a wedding after all.

Blissfully unaware of the tragedy, Everleigh was on the phone with her husband, Jensen. He was a FBI agent and away from home at the time. He would call whenever he had the opportunity though and was curious whether or not their son arrived there safely. He would only be in town for the day, but Everleigh didn’t complain. She was extremely proud of the men in her life and understood at times their careers could be quite demanding.

Everleigh may have only been a food critic, but she brought more to the table than reviews about tasty or bland food. She brought stability to the small city of Fairway, Kansas. She kept everyone centered and she was everyone’s shoulder to cry on. She always made time for everyone else no matter what her own situation was at the time. She was a great wife, mother and everyone’s best friend. She helped Alexander raise Chelsea after his wife passed away. She couldn’t let the poor girl have absolutely no motherly role model in her life as she grew up and there were some things a girl wanted to discuss with a woman, not her father.

Tenley arrived in the small city about two years ago and took everyone’s breath away. She was gorgeous and easygoing. She was responsible, but there was an edge to her. She was good for Alexander, but also for Chelsea. Since the very moment he saw her, Alexander was head over heels in love. Everleigh could tell by the way he took notice of her and she thought it was incredibly romantic. Love at first sight was hard to believe in, but Alexander and Tenley were living proof it existed and still happened, especially when you least expected it to happen.

Tenley would be a beautiful bride, Everleigh thought to herself.

“Unfortunately, he hasn’t arrived here yet,” Everleigh said to her husband, but to put him at ease quickly added, “But it is nothing for you to worry about. He called me to let me know his flight was delayed for some or other reason.” She glanced out the window as she heard a truck which was quite unusual in this particular neighborhood. “It’s about time…it would seem someone finally bought the house across the street from us. The movers just pulled up in front of it,” She told Jensen and was curious to see the new owners of the lovely house.

“Yes, it is about time.” Jensen agreed with his wife and he momentarily thought about the house’s previous owners, Mr. Jones, a pharmacist, and his housecat, Smithy. Mr. Jones was tolerable, but always wanted everything his way. He acted as if he owned everyone in the neighborhood. No one was sad to see him move away to live with his daughter in Florida. But since he left, it has been months since anyone lived in the house. “I have business I have to attend to, but I will try to call again later.” He said his goodbyes and ended the phone call.

A black BMW pulled up into the driveway of the house and Everleigh decided to welcome her neighbors to the neighborhood and introduce herself. She made her way across the street and over to the driver’s side of the car. The driver stepped out of the car and Everleigh introduced herself, “Hello. I’m Everleigh Gilmore. My house is right across the street.” She explained and a passenger climbed out on the other side of the car. “I don’t want to be the bothersome neighbor, but it is only proper for someone to welcome you to the neighborhood and everyone else is already at work at this time. Welcome to the neighborhood.”

“Thank you,” The driver said with a forced smile, but Everleigh could hear his gratitude was insincere. She was rather surprised to hear his English accent. “I’m Gregor Moore,” He introduced himself and shook her outstretched hand. The passenger made his way around the front of the car and came to stand beside Gregor, “This is my younger brother, Liam.” Everleigh could see they were brothers – they were alike and yet at the same time different.

“Nice to meet you,” Liam stated and Everleigh felt he forced his smile the same way his older brother had. She wondered for what reason they were unable to truly show kindness or happiness because everything they said and did seemed forced, premeditated. She found their behavior odd to say the least, but she thought to herself there must have been an acceptable reason for their behavior. There was no reason for her to think about it too much.

“If either of you ever need anything, feel free to come and ask. I’ll be more than happy to help where I can.” She said and smiled warmly at the pair. Liam returned the smile, but as she expected, the smile was forced. Their behavior puzzled her, but she would give them the necessary time to settle in and unpack before she would decide whether or not to question their behavior. She turned on her heel and returned to the comfort of her own home.

She started to wonder about her own behavior. Her behavior was the same as her son’s. She treated the Moore family as though they were suspects in a police investigation she needed to analyze. She laughed at herself as she closed the front door behind her. She would always do this. She would always subconsciously pick up little habits of her son or even her husband whenever she hasn’t seen either of the two in a very long time. She smiled to herself and wondered why it was something she did. It came naturally and she never thought about it, but before she knew it she would use no contractions the same way her husband refuses to use them. This time she started to treat everyone around her as if they were a suspect even though they were perfectly harmless the same way her son did. Fortunately she would see him today and put an end to her unusual behavior before she started to accuse her neighbors of some unspeakable and despicable crime they weren’t even responsible for.

But he would never do it. He would never accuse someone for a crime they didn’t do. He was thorough. He was dedicated. He was a criminal profiler. Everleigh would have preferred for him to not pursue a career in law enforcement, but she was pleasantly surprised by his choice and would allow it. She wanted to keep him safe. It was only normal, she was his mother and a mother would do anything to protect their child. But she also allowed him to make his own decisions and live his life.

The phone rang and the food critic automatically assumed it would be her son to tell her he was at the airport and about to get on the plane, but the second she answered the phone and heard the voice of the person on the other side, she knew it was not her son, “Hello, Everleigh. It’s Thaddeus.” His voice sounded grave and Everleigh was immediately distressed herself. But Thaddeus couldn’t bring himself to tell her, at least not today of all days. Everleigh has been looking forward to seeing her son for weeks now and he didn’t want to ruin the day she would have with him. He knew he had to tell her, but he would do it tomorrow. “How is your boy? Has he arrived here yet?”

“No, but he should arrive here in soon enough, at least I hope he does. Could you believe his flight was delayed? Today of all days…” She trailed off and thought to herself this, her son, could not be the reason for him to call her. There must have been some other reason for him to have called her, but she would see her son today and discuss it with Thaddeus the following day. “I can’t wait to see him, it’s been over six months since the last time I saw him.”

“It must be a miracle to have Chicago give him the day off to come and visit,” Thaddeus stated and sat down in the office chair behind his desk. He didn’t exactly know what else to say. All he thought about was Tenley’s death and how her murderer was walking around freely in his city. He couldn’t stand the thought of this murderer not behind bars and able to hurt anyone in his city. He would do anything to see the person responsible for Tenley’s death rot in a cell. “Six months is a long time…listen, could you send him over to come see me after lunch. I heard about his latest work and I would just like to hear about it from him in person rather than over the phone.”

“Uhm,” Everleigh started, but stopped herself as she thought. She was skeptic to send her son over to the chief of police. She’s known Thaddeus for years and she could trust him with anything, but she wouldn’t be able to trust him with her son. “Thaddeus…I honestly don’t think it’s a good idea, but I’ll tell him you want to see him and it’ll be his choice whether or not he comes to see you.” Thaddeus could understand her concern because it was her only child. He could understand a parent’s instinct to protect their child. But he meant no harm; he only wanted his opinion on this particular case, a nudge in the right direction if you will.

“Thank you, Everleigh.” The chief of police said and she gritted on her teeth. “I understand your concern, but you can trust me. I wouldn’t have asked this of you unless it was of the utmost importance, you need to believe me.” She wanted to believe him, she really did, but she couldn’t. “Everleigh, are you still there?” He wanted to know after a considerably long silence. If she were angry with him, he would understand. He knew she would be able to forgive him once she understood the circumstances and the situation he found himself in.

“Yes, I’m still here.” She answered and took a deep breath. “I don’t believe you when you say you merely want to talk about his latest work because I’m sure you want to involve him with one of your cases. If so, it’s solely up to him whether or not he participates. But for the record, I don’t want any part of this, but I’m in no position to tell him what to do with his life. I’ll tell him and then it’s between the two of you. It was nice of you to call.” She hung up and didn’t even bother to properly say goodbye mostly because she was too angry with him. She would forgive him, but it wouldn’t be today.

Thaddeus spent the rest of the day at the station and ensured his best people were hard at work. He wanted to catch Tenley’s murderer before someone else had to die. Every murderer made a mistake and it would only be a matter of time before one of his people would discover it. As soon as they did it would be game over for this murderer. He couldn’t stand the thought of the people of this city were in danger at the very moment and at the time there was absolutely nothing he could do about it. But the time would come when he would be able to do something about it and he couldn’t wait. He couldn’t wait to put yet another murderer behind bars where he so clearly belongs.

It was barely several minutes past five o’clock and Thaddeus realized he was most likely a no show. He did all he could and he couldn’t force Everleigh’s son to become a part of this. Even if he had shown up, he lived in Chicago and would probably return to the city of Illinois before tomorrow. Thaddeus and everyone at the station would need someone capable to stay around and be a helping hand. He should never have asked Everleigh to send her son over to the station. Instead he should have spent his time to find someone else to be of some help. He should have thought before he acted. He made a mistake to even call Everleigh and he realized it now more than he ever would.

“This isn’t Chicago,” Thaddeus heard a deep voice say and glanced up to see Everleigh’s son stand in the doorway with his arms crossed over his chest. He remained there quietly and his blue eyes wandered over the room. Thaddeus waited the entire afternoon for him and yet he was completely taken by surprise by the male’s presence in his office. The chief of police came to the assumption there was no longer any chance of his arrival at the station, but he was rather relieved to have him here. He walked over and sat down in a chair in front of the desk, “Far from it.”

“I’m glad you came.” Thaddeus said truthfully and uncomfortably shifted in his seat. He didn’t know whether he should make conversation about the weather or immediately inform him of the murder of Tenley. He decided to make the best of his time and go with the latter. “There’s a situation. A case, it’s a case, obviously. But it’s more than just that. It personally affects several of my people and myself.” He paused and momentarily stared into the distance before he continued, “A woman was murdered last night.”

“Wrong.” Someone stated with conviction and Thaddeus glanced up at the medical examiner that sauntered into his office. The medical examiner was in the station’s laboratory the entire day with Tenley’s corpse. “The murder happened after midnight.” The examiner informed the chief of police and only then acknowledged Everleigh’s son. “I know you,” The redhead said before she corrected herself, “Well, I know of you. I’m Slater, Kadence Slater.”

“I’m Rhys,” He told her and continued to glance around the room. Slater was interested in why he avoided eye contact with her and with Thaddeus. After all, he had such beautiful blue eyes. They were alluring, at least for the moment he allowed you to see his eyes. She always heard about the Gilmore men, but never in her life thought she would ever have the pleasure of meeting either of the two. She thought if she were to meet either it would be because she moved to Chicago to work there. She’s heard stories about the fearless FBI agent and his brilliant son who was a criminal profiler.

“Kadence here is my best and brightest medical examiner,” The chief of police informed the criminal profiler who didn’t seem to be at all interested in a single word Thaddeus said. Thaddeus found Rhys’ behavior to be infuriating. He could continue, but what would be the point if Rhys simply didn’t listen to him? “Rhys…” He said in attempt to have the male focus his attention on him, but Rhys ignored him completely. “Rhys…” He tried again, but was as unsuccessful as he was with his first attempt.

“Slater, how did she die?” Rhys wanted to know and she wasn’t particularly used to anyone addressing her by her surname, but it sounded perfectly fine to hear him address her by her surname. Thaddeus was surprised he showed any sign of life other than inhaling oxygen and converting it into carbon dioxide. He was also pleasantly surprised for Rhys to take interest in this case. “Slater, how did she die?”

“She was strangled to death.” Kadence answered and her skin crawled in disgust. “There are bruises all over her neck, but there was something which confused me at first.” Rhys stared at her questioningly and Thaddeus waited in anticipation to hear her continue. “I found traces of morphine in her blood, but it’s not nearly enough to kill someone. Her attacker must not have known this and as the morphine had no effect, he or she resorted to strangulation.”

“So far my people were unable to find anything to lead us to the killer. He clearly covered up his tracks and only intended to kill her.” Thaddeus added and Rhys started to take everything they said into consideration. “He left her wallet, her car keys and…and her engagement ring, all perfectly intact. The only evidence to prove this person was even there,” He paused for a brief moment and Kadence could only imagine how hard it must have been for her employer. “The only sign is the bruises on Tenley’s neck. Nothing else.”

Kadence watched Rhys with great interest. She was fascinated by him. “The morphine was not used as a method to kill. If this person was smart enough to cover their tracks, we need to assume this person is smart enough to know how much morphine would be necessary to take someone’s life. This person simply didn’t want his victim to feel any physical pain as he ended her life.” The criminal profiler ended and Thaddeus stared at him with disbelief, “It happens, rarely happens, but often a murderer will find he experiences less guilt if he is able to lessen the pain his victims have to endure as he would end their lives.”

“Well, certain people are awfully disturbed.” Kadence thought out loud and lowered her head as she stared down at the floor. “Tell me something I don’t know.” She murmured to herself and was curious to hear Rhys’ opinion about something else, something still related to Tenley’s death. “Actually, the bruises on Tenley’s neck aren’t the only sign her murderer was there. There is an item we believe the killer deliberately placed at the scene.” Thaddeus stared at Kadence with confusion written all over his face. He was under the impression the killer didn’t leave anything behind. “It was a business card. But instead of the usual standard information of your place of work, there was only a single word on the card and all in capital letters. Jared.”