Case #1: Romeo
Chapter 2
Amy Harper & Cassandra Milton's Home
Atlanta, Georgia
Monday, October 4, 2002
6:48
PM
Logan
North and Toni McIver watched from inside of Logan’s oversized van as the
police searched the premises of the crime scene.
The blue and red flashing of the Police cars lights gave Toni a slight
headache, but she had grown a custom to it over her five years of being a
detective. Closing her eyes to
block out the lights, she gently rubbed her temples to ease the pain.
I’ve got to pull myself together
if I want to get this job, she thought to herself.
She looked over at Logan and smiled.
Logan forced a smile despite of the current situation.
He was worried about Hope. It
was horrifying how much the dead women resembled her and that frightened him. He hoped that everything was alright, but his gut feeling was
telling him otherwise.
Toni watched as Logan located his cellular phone and dialed
a number.
Who could he be calling,
she wondered. We’re
in the middle of an interview here. She
glanced over at him with a questioning look on her face, but he was too wrapped
up in his phone call to notice; and she was relieved that he didn’t see her
expression.
A mechanical beep rang out in Logan’s ear as Hope’s
answering machine picked up. “Hi,
you’ve reached Hope Watson. I’m
not able to come to the phone right now so leave a brief message and I’ll get
back to you.”
Another mechanical beep sounded signaling Logan to leave
his message. “Hope if you’re
there please pick up it’s urgent…Hope are you there?”
When she didn’t answer the phone Logan sighed, and hung
up his phone.
“No answer?” Toni
asked, concerned.
Logan shook his head; no.
“I just hope that nothing bad has happened to her.”
“I’m sure that she is fine. She probably just stepped out.”
Logan and Toni sat in silence as they watched the dead
girl’s body be carted out in a body bag.
“She was so young,” Toni chocked out in whisper, as earlier images of
seeing the girl’s dead body resurfaced in her brain.
“I’m sorry that this has been more of an investigation
than an interview, but from what I have seen you have exactly what it takes to
become a valued member of our team. If
you want the job, it’s yours.”
Due to the circumstances Toni tried to refrain from
becoming overly excited, instead she professionally accepted his offer.
“When do I start?” She asked.
“Today, if you want.”
Toni nodded her head.
“Just give me an hour to go to my apartment and change into clothes
more suitable.”
Logan half smiled. “I’ll
meet you in one hour at headquarters, and I’ll introduce you to the rest of
the gang.”
Thirty minutes had passed since Toni had left the van, and
Logan was beginning to get bored with his current scenery, a small blue house
that was guarded by a line of yellow police tape. He picked up his cell phone and dialed Hope’s number again.
She
probably won’t pick up the phone, he said to himself silently; but she
did.
“Hello,” Hope answered, her voice was almost a whisper.
“Hope? Is
that you?” Logan asked
inquisitively.
Relieved Hope spoke up.
“Yeah it’s me Logan,” she replied, her voice now at her normal
tone.
“Is everything okay where you are?”
He asked. He was truly
concerned for her well-being, if she realized it or not.
“I’m fine Logan, except for….well…never mind…”
Hope’s voice trailed off.
“Except for what, Hope?”
Logan insisted.
Hope didn’t reply and desperately tried to change the
subject. “So how’s the gang?”
Catching on to her game Logan quickly changed the subject
back to their previous one. “I
want to know what is going on. Is
there something wrong? Answer
me!”
Hope was silent for a few moments.
“It’s Romeo…” She chocked out in a whisper.
“He’s alive and I am terrified of what he might do.”
“How do you know he’s alive? Has he contacted you?”
“He called me right after I got off of the phone with you
the other night.”
Logan panicked. “Hope
I want you to leave Florida right now, and come stay with us until this Romeo
business blows over.”
“But-,” Hope started to speak, but Logan abruptly cut
her off.
“Not buts Hope. If
you don’t come and stay here with us, then we are all coming to Florida to
stay with you!”
Hope sighed. There
was no fighting with Logan. Once he
set his mind on something, there was no changing it, no matter if you wanted to
do what he said or not. “Okay
Logan…I give up, you win…I’ll be on the next flight to Atlanta,
Georgia.”
“Call me as soon as you arrive.”
“You’re a very pushy man, Logan North,” Hope replied.
“So I’ve been told.”
Miami Airport
Miami, Florida
October 4, 2002
9:00
PM
Hope
was exhausted. Lugging her
suitcases up a flight of stairs that seemed like they would last forever was
tiring. She wiped her forehead
quickly to remove any perspiration that may be on her brow; there was none.
Locating a seat in the packed airport she plopped herself down, and sank
down into the inviting plastic chair.
Hope fished a few quarters out of her purse and dropped
them into the slot and a small television bolted to chair she was sitting in
buzzed to life; but what she saw on the television was the very thing she wanted
to escape from. Romeo.
She tried to turn the television away, but she couldn’t
somehow the swivel mechanism was broken, leaving her to stare at the news
broadcast.
She watched as, Adam Brock, the channel thirty-three news
anchor spoke, but she blocked out his words and transfixed her sights on his
overly hair sprayed head of black hair. He
reminded her of her ‘Ken’ doll that she had played with in her child hood,
except for the fact that her doll had been much more handsome.
After fifteen minutes of focusing on the news anchor’s
bad choice of a hairstyle and trying to avoid actually hearing the news the
television turned off with a loud click.
A sigh of relief escaped from Hope’s lips when the
television set “died”. What had
she been thinking when she had used those quarters to bring the television to
life, she knew that all of the televisions in the airport were usually set on
news channels.
A middle-aged woman wearing a black tee-shirt with a
picture of Elvis Presley caught Hope’s attention. Underneath the picture of Elvis in huge text were the words
‘Elvis still lives’.
Hope chuckled. She
couldn’t believe some people. The
man is dead, get over it. They
acted like he was Christ or something,
coming back to save their souls from anguish and torment with his music.
She disagreed fully. If
Elvis were still living, he probably faked his death and when into hiding after
realizing how hideous his music sounded. But,
that was just her opinion. She
never cared too much to listen to her parents eight-tracks.
Now the woman’s shirt was one thing, but those
nineteen-eighties skin tight blue jeans were another story.
What was this woman thinking? She
was in need of some serious fashion advice.
Hope followed the woman with her eyes and watched her step
into a nearby phone booth. Oh
my God, Hope realized. I
forgot to call Chris and tell him that I am going back home to Georgia.
She located her cell phone, and dialed the number to
Chris’ home but she quickly ended the call, remembering that he was away on a
business trip with his co-workers. Thinking
for a few minutes, she dialed the number to his cell phone and waited for him to
answer, but she didn’t have to wait long because her cell phone went dead.
“Damn it!” Hope
exclaimed beating her cell phone against her leg in an attempt to resuscitate
it. She had no such luck.
The phones’ battery was still dead.
Grabbing her purse she got up from the plastic chair, and
started towards the row of pay phones located on the on the far right of the
airport.
By the time she got to the row of payphones every one of
them was occupied, but she couldn’t wait.
She located a map of the airport. Pin
pointing another row of phones on the map with her finger, she trotted back
across the airport and back down that long flight of stairs which lead down to
the main lobby.
She located the second row of phones, which were also all
occupied.
Frustrated, Hope remembered a few payphones that were
located just outside of the airport. She
walked briskly out of the airport and finally found a vacant phone in an alley
around the corner.
She was hesitant at first to walk into the dark alley
alone, but against her instincts she made her way down the dimly lit alley to
the payphone.
She took the phone off of the receiver and placed a few
quarters into the slot. After the
electronic voice of a woman greeted her she dialed Chris’ cell phone number
again.
Hope was slightly worried when she got his voicemail.
“This is Chris. You
know what to do.” His deep
masculine voice echoed in her ear, and after a series of quick beeps she started
leaving her message.
“Hey it’s Hope. I’m
at the airport, and I’ll be leaving soon. I’m going to Atlanta, Georgia for a few days.
Call me when you get this.” Hope
chuckled. “I’ll try to have my cell phone charged by then.”
She placed the phone back onto the receiver and the
metallic sound of her quarters hitting against other quarters sounded loudly in
the confined area of the glass encased phone booth.
She stood isolated in the phone booth, alone. And shadows
in the alley played with her mind making the area look all that more eerie.
But, that shadows didn’t scare her as much as the silhouette of a man
that was only a few feet away from her.
A small gasp escaped from he lips when the man started
inching closer towards her, his face hidden in the shadows.
“Hope,” He said calling out to her as he inched closer.
How does he know my name? She asked herself, terror beginning to set in now paralyzing her. And then her thoughts went back to the words Logan had said during his conversation with her a few days before. “It’s Romeo….” Logan’s words echoed in her head repeatedly as she watched the figure of a man advance closer and closer towards her.
