08

DETECTIVE GOMEZ

I could feel my heart racing matching the purr of the accelerating car under my feet. It seemed all my sleepless nights would finally amount to something; yet buried deep beneath all of the anticipation was a heart wrenching guilt.

My conscience reared its heavy head; reminding me that Hallé was also my friend and she wasn't well, maybe Shadow was right and Michael *did* trigger Hallé, maybe he wasn't completely innocent...I mean now that I think about it he had been acting off, I wonder-

"I really don't know the point of this" Shadow huffed out slouching down across me in passenger seat and interrupting my chain of thoughts.

I shook my head "The point is to get answers, Hallé's parents clearly went to a lot of work to help her hide her dissociative disorder, so it's only fair we get to ask them about it. We need to know if Hallé's currently still undergoing treatment and seeing a psychologist and then we take it from there"

She smiled "Then we can help prove that she truly can't be blamed for her actions and actually needs help"

I eyed her warily and decided to just ask her something that I'd been going over for a while "Molly why are you here, I mean you clearly just want Hallé to be absolved of all accusations, so why are you actually helping me?"

Her expression turned cold as she fixed an icy glare on me "Have you noticed that practically everyone in my family line is in a form of law enforcement? Fighting for Justice; it's in our blood and if we see something that's not right we just can't let it go without righting it. That's why I'm here because something about this case is not right and that's all; there's really nothing wrong with me hoping a woman I have idolized my whole life did not murder her husband in cold blood".

I sighed and was about to apologise but she wasn't done

"And really *Luiz* I am one of the very few people on this case who you haven't managed to piss off; a situation that can change real fast if you continue this line of questioning, okay?"

I silently nodded my head in response which seemed to satisfy her enough.

The car was dead silent again and I couldn't help but notice that this was quite a shift from her usually bubbly personality but maybe I just pushed her too far.

This case needed to be closed quick; I needed get some sleep so I could stop doubting everyone around me that just breathed wrong.

...............................

Mrs Carter escorted us to the living room and after we all got comfortable, Mr Carter just went straight to the point.

"Luiz what brings you here or have you found another reason to accuse us?"

I cleared my throat "Actually I would like to first officially apologise to you about my previous behaviour, I was very out of line that day but we have come upon some new information"

He flickered his gaze towards his wife at my words before responding "oh? now what might that be?"

I released a breath "Well, we came across an old case file of Hallé's; when she was twelve years old....she had an altercation with the son of her foster mother that led to his death. The file also showed you testified to aid Hallé's innocence plea as the officer on scene and as such I just feel you'd be the right person to shed more light on this, especially about Hallé's dissociative disorder".

He released a defeated sigh "I knew this would come out sooner or later; I can almost hear the wheels turning in your head but you have to know, my baby girl has gone through a lot. I will never forget the day I set my eyes on her....on that crime scene; She was shaking crouched over the bastard's body, trying to perform CPR on a man whose brains were splattered everywhere. That's how far gone she was and when she kept repeating that name-"Yoncé", I just knew I had to help her; the poor girl was so broken, seeing her like that was it for me, I resigned from the force, opened up a gym with some money I'd saved up, mostly from what my wife chipped in and I focused a lot more of my time on helping her".

I saw him sniffle, holding back tears and I heard Shadow do the same. I wondered if Michael knew about this too, 'cause broken was never how I'd describe the Hallé I knew.

Watching Jerome almost break down in tears at the memory was almost too painful, so I decided to shift the direction of the story working it closer to the direct answers I needed.

"The file stated she was both physically, emotionally and then sexually abused by the son before "Yoncé" decided to take action, to protect her and prevent the other foster kids from experiencing such. So is this a common thing, for "Yoncé" to take over when she feels Hallé is being hurt or taken advantage of? How much of an appearance has she made over the years? And is Hallé still currently seeing a psychologist and taking the proper medication for the disorder?"

This time Mary Jane, Hallé's mum stepped in "Well after adopting Hallé, we made sure that she immediately started sessions with a trusted psychologist but even during this time Yoncé seemed very dormant to our knowledge since the foster home incident, so much so that Jerome and I allowed her to be very flexible with her sessions but then it backfired on us. Before Michael, Hallé really fell for this boy in Highschool but he turned out to be a fool, he cheated on my babygirl, spread photos around the school and that's when "Yoncé" made her appearance again; Hallé is very emotional and when she hurts, she really does. I have never seen her that angry, teachers say they could barely hold her back from cracking that boy's ribs, but due to the issues surrounding the incidents the school and the boy's parents let it go".

Wow, did I really know Hallé? Did Michael? What really went on in their marriage? Cheating was enough to trigger Hallé, could it be possible that's what Michael did? That something as cliche as that was the solution to all of this?

I wanted to voice all of these thoughts out loud but instead I just nodded and went on "So I imagine after that, you started taking her sessions and treatments more seriously, monitoring it closer? Did an incident similar to this occur again?"

She nodded rigorously "Yes of course, we just wanted the best for her, to make her happy. To give Hallé a sense of continuity we maintained her sessions with her psychologist from highschool and with Hallé's career and everything, she promised to be especially discreet. They met at her apartments instead of the clinic and she always kept us in the loop. Really she's been such a blessing to this family, and since the highschool situation, nothing of such ever occurred again but she still keeps the sessions and does her treatments judiciously".

Yes and quite slyly too, since I've never noticed her taken her medications. She must have gone to lengths to keep so much under wraps, it was paramount I got in touch with her psychologist.

"Okay thank you very much for your time and cooperation, I just have one last request; I'm safely assuming the psychologist is a woman due to the amounts of shes you've used and I'd appreciate it very much if you would just state out her name and address so my Shadow over here can take it down, we'll be on our way"

.................................

I stepped back into the station, with Shadow hot on my tail, walked over to my office and sunk myself deep into my seat. I just needed a break from the highs and lows of this case, I break down one wall and a hundred are built back in its place.

I put my head back up in time to see Shadow standing to the side in the office silently observing me, as if wondering how best to approach before she caught my gaze and pulled her lips back in a small smile "Well that was a bust".

I offered a dry short chuckle in response and agreement; truly I really couldn't agree more. Right after we left the Carters', I was so pumped and decided we had to see Hallé's psychologist immediately.

It really wasn't hard to get to her, given the nature of this case; she was more than willing to show that she had nothing to hide. I mean I had to really convince her to even somewhat provide us with a more personal insight into Hallé; though it didn't matter much.

Dr. McKenzie basically reiterated exactly what her parents gave me. According to her, Hallé hadn't stated that there was anything wrong between her and Michael, and she seemed pretty much alright for a woman who just lost her husband. There were no signs that her other personality had come "into the light" as she put it.

Meaning I have nothing; This really might be the first unsolved case of my entire career.

I was very close to screaming out in frustration when Shadow spoke up again "You know it's so painfully obvious how this case is driving you insane. I can just see that you really loved Michael but you've never told me anything about how you both met, your dynamic with Hallé; nothing".

I smiled grateful at the distraction "This is going to sound pretty ironic giving the situation but Michael was my foster brother". I paused just enough to see the sincere shock in her expression and released my first genuine laugh in a long time.

"I know, crazy right? But truth is you never know where you're going to meet your true family. I knew Michael was meant to be in my life when we ended up at the same foster home twice, first when we were about 6 and then when we were 12; six years apart. My friendship with Michael was the only thing that kept me going a lot of the time, you know when we got separated the first time, we became pen pals".

At this point, Shadow had pulled a seat in front of my desk, listening with rapt attention and it encouraged me to go on "We even got adopted at the same time- pretty late, he was 15 and I was 14. He got picked up by this well-to-do family, pretty rich, elderly couple-the husband was the boss of our foster mum; they were looking for someone to help and just fell in love with Michael. Couldn't blame them, everyone did; he always had an easy charm...while I never was much of a people person as you can tell. Which is why I was thoroughly surprised by my foster family's decision to adopt me. Lovely couple- dad was in the military, mum worked as an accountant. Anyways Michael and I always kept in touch, he didn't want any form of inheritance from the couple but they still set away some money for him, an apartment and got him into a bigshot art school so he could become the director he always dreamed of being. Which as you know is how he got to meet Hallé. Man you should have seen the smile on his face the first time he told me about her almost as big as when he first introduced me to her,- "the two people he loved the most in the same room" he said; corny fool" I finished releasing a warm laugh at the memory.

Hallé smiled, almost like she could feel just how much I missed him "Well what about your adoptive parents?, you said Michael's were an elderly couple so I'm assuming they passed not too long after adopting him, but what about yours?"

"Well dad died serving the old man, and mum...losing him broke her. She died in a car accident, drunk driving; I was 18 around this time, old enough to be on my own and they'd saved up quite a bit on accounts where I was listed as a next of kin. They didn't have much living family either, so I went into the police academy, was an officer for a while then took my detective test"

Shadow replied with a loud sigh "Wow, so he really was the only family you had, and I'm guessing he's the only reason you hung around Hallé and her sister"

"Well, they were actually fun to hang out with but technically yeah. To me it just was- Michael loved her and that was that; Solange was more of a package deal; Being given the opportunity to know Michael like that...it just showed me that someone doesn't have to be blood related for you to trust and love them like family, with anything and in any situation"

Immediately I uttered that sentence, a light bulb literally went off in my head like in a cartoon.

In all of the excitement and frustration I had forgotten about the one person *the carters* trusted like family, especially Hallé. He might have had no familial ties with them but I had a good feeling he'd know just more than a few answers to my questions.

I was smiling so giddily that Shadow looked a bit frightened and asked "what? What's going on? What did you remember?"

"Get your ass up, we're going to seek the Lord's answers".

...............................

PASTOR BROWN

I stood in front of the stained glass window watching as the detective and his protege got out of the car and moved towards the main entrance of the church.

He smiled and thought *this was good, right on schedule*.

Unlike the rest of the family, he never really knew Gomez but it seemed his obsession with this case and Michael seemed to be serving them pretty well; making him blind to a whole lot of things and thanks to him this would all be over very very soon.

Now *time to play his part*

..............................

DETECTIVE GOMEZ

"Pastor, I know there's more that you aren't telling me" I finally let out in frustration at the Pastor successfully dodging his questions.

Pastor Brown sighed in defeat "Gomez I've told you everything I know which is that I *don't* know anything".

At his words I stared him down; five minutes passed before I realized he really wasn't going to give me anything; Shadow just sat by my right flickering her gaze between us both, probably wondering if she should put down the "stare down" in her black notebook.

He wasn't going to crack and I was wasting time trying to get him to; I needed to come back with something to send him over the edge. "Alright, fine. But here's my card, when you realize that you *do* know something don't hesitate to reach out".

He was just about to reply when the door was slammed open and Solange walked in "Pastor Brown, we have-". She paused when she finally noticed Shadow and I in the room. She gave a tight lipped smile and turned her attention back to the good Pastor "You're busy?"

I cleared my throat and replied for him "No, Shadow and I were just leaving. Pastor I hope to see you very soon, thank you for your time".

I walked out leaving him and Solange to continue.

*Definitely something going on there*

MOLLY

I walked back to the office, with a mission on my mind; immediately I got in front of the door, got out my phone and turned on the recording app, then carefully and slightly opened the door and I could hear them speaking.

"Listen to me, he's asking for more money to keep him quiet. I haven't been working for a while, and I can't just empty out my entire savings so I need you to write me a cheque".

*Good*

I could hear Pastor Brown grunt and concede as he wrote him a cheque "This is the first and last time". I heard him say as he handed her the cheque.

She just smiled and said "Don't forget who's in charge here Pastor".

I turned off the recorder, and as I saw her move I knocked on the door and walked in.

I saw Solange jump in her skin and I smiled internally. "Sorry I forgot my notebook", I picked it up and walked out without another word.

I practically ran towards Gomez's car.

*We've got her now*