WARNING: The story talks about self harm and suicide attempt.
Placing the car in park, she turned off the engine and pulled out the keys and squeezed them inside of her hands for a moment before dropping them into her open purse. She flinched a little hearing the door open and turned her head to see who had opened it, "Oh, Lieutenant Flynn! Good evening." She said taking his hand as she placed her heeled shoe down against the pavement.
"Same to you, Captain." He spoke as he shut the door behind her once she had exited the vehicle and held up the police caution tape for the both of them to walk under.
"What do we have here?" Sharon's eyes moved around the perimeter, checking out the house and the lovely garden that had been well maintained outside. She observed the people who were standing by as spectators and listened briefly to one of the reporters doing their job in front of a camera. The neighborhood was very family oriented, the only way she knew that was because she herself had looked at it when she had first moved to Los Angeles. Shoving her hands inside of her pockets, she could feel her fingers begin to twitch around not knowing what she was about to be told.
"Sixteen year old female was found in her bedroom by her parents." Andy spoke quietly as they passed the grieving parents who were standing off to the side with Lieutenant Provenza. Sharon studied the male for a moment before realizing who exactly who lived at this residence. Looking down into her purse, she grabbed her turquoise colored latex gloves and placed them on before entering the property. Adjusting her glasses that had fallen to the tip of her nose, she tucked her brown hair behind her ear before climbing the staircase. Biting the inside of her cheek, she nodded to the rookie cop standing out of the bedroom door and walked slowly inside seeing the mess.
"Good God..." She mumbled to herself, her head shaking as she slowly walked over and kneeled down to observe the young girl's body.
"Her name is Abig-" Andy began to speak however was cut off by Sharon.
"Abigail Bruckner." She spoke quietly. Reaching down, she brushed back the brunette hair and inhaled sharply realizing just how much this girl looked and reminded Sharon of her own daughter. Clearing her throat, she looked everywhere but the girl's face, knowing she could not lose it at a crime scene. Her eyes fixated on the small wrist that laid on the ground, both had been slit. There were also faint healed scars that covered her arms around the fresh wounds and she could feel her heart break. To know that someone, especially that young didn't know a healthy way to get out their emotions and ended up taking it out on themselves- to know that someone this girl's age was in so much pain to take her own life. Here was the daughter of a very well known state representative, from all she had read the girl was very smart and had won many awards in the Academic team. Someone who had so much potential and a bright future ahead of them.
"The window was unlocked and open when we got here," Andy began to speak as he pointed to the numbered off checkpoints. "No signs of forced entry but the parents are insisting that the boyfriend did it." Sharon nodded her head for a moment as she snapped back into reality and turned her attention towards the medical examiner who had been looking over the body for a while.
"Any ideas, Doctor?" She asked looking back at the girl's face again, knowing it was a bad idea. She just could not get her little girl out of her head. Doctor Morales who was already looking over the body, arched his eyebrow and shook his head.
"She's been dead for almost an hour. And, well, seeing that this was found next to her hand," the man held up an evidence bag that contained a razor blade, "I'm guessing all wounds were self inflicted." Sharon stood up a little too quickly and closed her eyes for a moment, stepping back and taking in a sharp inhale.
"You okay, Captain?" Andy asked touching her arm. The brunette nodded her head and laughed.
"I'm fine, thank you for asking. Just getting too old to bounce up that fast." She spoke as she looked around the room. The room was decorated in almost the same things her daughter's room had been covered with. Sharon felt sick to her stomach, she knew that it was more than unprofessional of her to be getting attached to the victim and letting this case get to her, but her mind was burning with images of her own child.
It was absolutely ridiculous, why was Sharon getting so emotional? Looking around the room, she saw a cell phone plugged in at the nightstand and picked it up, going through and reading the last received messages.
"Lieutenant Flynn, I am going to go see if I can track down some of the people Abigail was texting this evening. Call me if you all find anything else, please." She spoke as she exited the room and took in a deep breath of air. "Pull yourself together, Sharon. You are acting completely ridiculous." She said to herself in her mind as her hand gripped the staircase bannister and held onto it as she descended down the steps. Her eyes met almost every picture that was covering the walls and could not help but smile at all the big family ones they had. For the brunette, she owned a couple as well however they all had Jack in them and both her children were much younger. Once reaching the bottom step Sharon looked around the house, taking in the traditional family living space that she missed having herself with everything inside of her. She had tried her very hardest to keep her marriage intact, keep her family together and make sure that everyone was happy, but her attempt crumbled into a million pieces. Feeling the cool air hit her skin as she went outside, she made her way over to the grieving parents and kept her hands held together.
"I'm so sorry for your loss," She spoke as her eyes met both the wife and husband's, "My name is Captain Sharon Raydor, I know you would rather be doing anything else but I need to ask you a few questions if that is alright." She spoke in a questioning tone making sure that they were up to it.
John Bruckner nodded his head as he held onto his wife, "We will answer anything just find the bastard who did this." He spoke as tears streamed down his face.
Sharon nodded her head and licked her lip before pulling out her notepad and pen, "Was your daughter having any problems recently? Anyone bothering her?" She asked as her head tilted to the side and she felt her brown locks fall onto her shoulder.
"No, Abbie was a girl everyone liked. She was the kindest person in the world." He spoke as he tried to think, "The only person who ever upsetted her was the that boyfriend of hers."
"Boyfriend? What is his name?" She asked scribbling down everything the man was telling her.
"Brian Ackerman. He's standing right over there." The woman pointed over towards a boy who had been standing near the tape ever since Sharon got there. Her hues quickly found the boy and sighed when she saw him take off running. "Officers," She spoke in her loud, demanding voice, "Go catch that kid." Sharon turned her attention back to the victim's parents and pulled out her cell phone.
"There is one other thing, do you know where I can find... Mallory, Joann, and Casey?" She asked looking back up to the people in front of her. "Do you recognize those names?"
"Yes, they have been Abbie's best friends ever since Kindergarten. They are standing over there too." John pointed the girl's out and wiped away some tears. "If you'll excuse us, I think we need to sit down for a bit."
Sharon nodded her head and turned on her heel, heading over towards the group of young girls. "Hello ladies, my name is Sharon." She spoke showing her badge and shoved it back into her pocket. "Can you tell me your names and a little about Brian?" She asked as she looked over the crowd seeing the officers placing the young man in the back of one of the many cop cars.
"My name is Joann and Brian is a complete jerk." The younger girl folded her arms across her chest.
"I'm Mallory, the two of them started dating a couple of months ago, but last week she broke up with him because she realized how crazy he actually was and ever since then he has been stalking her."
Sharon nodded her head and turned to the other girl, "You must be Casey, am I correct?" She asked offering a small smile to the girl who was obviously devastated.
"Yes, ma'am." Her voice was quiet and Sharon could tell she didn't want to talk. "Everything they said plus ten times more crazy, that's Brian."
Sharon nodded her head and continued to write in her notepad. "What kind of things did Brian do after they broke up?"
"Well for starters, he would wait by her car after we got out of school and it would take about ten minutes for her to even get in and leave because he was blocking the way. He sent her text messages non stop calling her these... horrible names and..." Mallory began to cry a little, "He is such a dick."
"The most recent thing he did was send out a personal picture of Abigail to everyone in the entire school. She was not completely naked, but she was wearing her bra and underwear." Joann spoke as she held up her phone and showed the woman the picture.
Sharon took in a sharp breath and nodded her head, handing it quickly back to the girl, trying to get that image out of her mind. "When did Abigail find out about the picture being sent out?"
"Yesterday morning." Casey spoke up and looked at the older woman, "We told her about it and she ditched school and came home. She was terrified that her father would find out."
Sharon nodded and let out a sigh, "What do you think her father would have done if he had found out?"
The three girls looked at each other before turning their attention to Sharon.
"Well... he, umm.." Joann spoke before looking over at the man sitting on the porch who met her gaze.
Sharon noticed this and stepped closer, looking down at the young girls, "Look, if you are afraid of what he might do then you have nothing to worry about, I am not going to let anything bad happen to you all." Her voice quiet, but still reassuring.
"Abigail said he beat her a few times, she came to school with some bruises and stuff." Mallory chimed in.
Joann looked over at her friend and then nodded her head, "She said her mom watched and didn't even help."
The older woman's eyes widened as she listened to what the girls were telling her and she could not believe it. Biting the inside of her cheek again, she smiled half heartedly at them, "Thank you all very much. I will be in touch if there is anything else."
Moving underneath the police tape, she handed Joann, Mallory and Casey her card with her phone number and moved throughout the crowd, shaking her head to reporter's questioning for a interview and went over to the police car.
As Sharon approached the parked vehicle, she watched the young boy in the back struggle, she listened to the vulgar words and comments coming out of his mouth and she could not help but shake her head. She knew children could get out of line sometimes, but she raised both her son and daughter better and if she ever had heard that kind of language come out of her children's mouth she would have set them straight real fast.
"I'm assuming you are Brian?" She asked as she leaned against the open door and tilted her head to the side, watching the boy just like Rusty had when they first brought him in.
"Who the hell are you?" He asked with a snarl as he looked away from the older woman and leaned back in the seat with a grunt of frustration.
"My name is Captain Sharon Raydor, and I am the person who can put you away for a very long time if I find out you were the one who murdered Abigail." She spoke a little fed up already with the teenager.
"Kill her?! Are you crazy?! I loved her!" He said in disbelief. "Is her Dad putting you up to this?!"
"No, you're in the cop car because you took off running and usually people who do that are guilty of something, don't you think?" She spoke in a matter of fact tone.
"If anyone killed her it's him." The boy said looking over at John. "She hated him, and he hated her too."
Sharon nodded her head a little and sighed, "Where were you this evening?" She asked clicking her pen to the open position and began to write on her notepad.
"I was at home, with both of my parents and my little sister." He said angrily, "Ask, you will find out I was there all night doing homework. As soon as I heard about Abbie... I came over as fast as I could."
"Why did you run?" She asked, her eyebrow arching.
"Because he pointed to me and I knew he was pinning this on me."
"Okay." She spoke as she turned on her heel and gave the officer instructions to take the boy home and verify his story.
Looking back at the house and all the people, she felt sick to her stomach. She needed to focus and do her job but she couldn't. When she went to step forward she felt her knees almost buck from underneath her and she gasped a little, catching her balance and placing her hand over her mouth. Provenza had just observed what had happened and quickly walked over, "Are you okay, Captain?" He asked in a serious tone of voice and not a sarcastic one he usually graced her with.
"Um, Lieutenant Provenza, I am feeling a bit ill and I don't think it is best if I continue to stay at the house this evening. I think I am going to go home and I will need you all to bring me up to speed in the morning. Until then... you are in charge." She said handing the man her notepad and ran her fingers through her hair. "I'm terribly sorry for in the inconvience."
"Drive safely," the man spoke as he helped the woman to her car. "Are you sure you don't want a officer to drive?"
Sharon smiled at his concern and shook her hands and head back and forth, "No, I'm alright, thank you though."
The older man shut the door after she was all the way in her car and watched her drive off, confused about what had just happened but not enough to keep him from spring into action and take charge. Looking at one of the responding officers, he walked over and pointed to Sharon's car slowly getting out of the neighborhood. "Follow the Captain and make sure she gets home safely then report back to me."
Luckily for Sharon, the neighborhood was not too far from her condominium, so she got home in no time. As she shut the door behind her, she noticed all the lights off in her apartment which meant Rusty had gone to sleep. She was a little grateful for that because she didn't want to act the way she was and cause him to worry. Going to her bedroom, she shut the door behind her and changed into her pajamas and did her nightly routine, washing her face, brushing her teeth and taking her nightly medication. Once she was finished, she walked over and sat down on her bed slowly, placing her hand out to grab the mattress as she sat down. Tears began to flood from her eyes and she could not control it one bit, covering her mouth so she would not make any noises that would cause Rusty to awake, she grabbed a throw pillow and buried her face into it.
"For the thousandth time, Austin, no means no!" Sharon yelled at her son as she looked over at her husband and flinched a little hearing the bedroom door slam shut. "Well, that was pleasant..." She said smirking a little as she drank the rest of her wine and smiled while watching the man pick up the dishes and take them to the kitchen, something Jackson rarely ever did without bribery.
Looking at the untouched plate of food and the spot that had been abandoned by her daughter who had decided not to come down, she sighed and ran her fingers through her long locks. She figured Madeline was just having another bad day and needed to cool off, but still that was no excuse not to at least come down and grace her family with her presence. "Jack, will you wrap this and place it in the fridge incase she gets hungry?" Sharon asked standing to her feet and looking through the doorway into her kitchen towards her husband.
"Sure thing." He spoke as he turned on the sink and began to rinse off the plates.
"I'm going to go check on her." She said loud enough for him to hear her and moved over to the staircase. She remembered all the drama she had as a young girl and could not help but laugh at the ridiculousness of it all now, but she did know what it felt like at that age and knew she could at least try and reason with her second born child. Madeline was her miracle baby, every single doctor she went to told her that she had a ninety five percent chance of having a miscarriage or the baby having some defect, but they were wrong. Madeline was born a healthy baby girl and Sharon could not have been more happy. As she reached the second floor, she trotted over to the bedroom door that was embroidered with a big pink letter M on the front, she smiled to herself a little before knocking lightly and twisting the doorknob. Peeking her head inside, she looked around, "Mad-" only to find the girl in the bathroom. Sighing to herself, she shut the door behind her and walked over to yet another door and repeated her actions only this time to find it locked.
"Maddie, what have I told you about locking doors in this house?" Sharon said closing her eyes for a moment before continuing to jiggle the handle.
"Whatever has happened, you know you can talk to me, right?" She spoke softly as she leaned her head against the wood. "I promise I will listen to everything you have to say without interrupting or judgement." Sharon spoke trying to reason with her like she had before when the young girl got home from school but unfortunately had no luck. It was very hard to do when you didn't know what exactly the person was upset about. She stood there for a moment not receiving an answer, nor hearing any sounds and she began to worry.
"Maddie Grace, open this door and talk to me." Her tone was harsher.
Nothing.
Her heart dropped into her stomach- or at least that is what it felt like and she began to beat on the door. "Maddie!" She yelled into the door, still not hearing anything.
Running across the bedroom, she opened the door and yelled, "Jackson! Get up here, now!" She covered her mouth as she waited for the man to sprint up the steps and turned looking at her son who was exiting his bedroom, "No, stay in there. Shut your door." She said pointing and giving him a direct order as she followed her husband into her daughter's room.
"She's not answering and the door is locked." Sharon tried to explain to her husband and then stepped back watching him kick it in. Jackson was not that strong of a man, but the damage he did was just enough. Sharon pushed in on the wood as hard as she could until it opened and she looked down on the floor and screamed out, "Maddie!"
There was her child, her baby on the ground with a empty pill bottle laying beside of her and a few deep cuts on each wrist. Tears instantly began to flood from her face as she dropped to the ground and checked for the girl's pulse.
"Jackson, call 911!" She screamed out, grabbing her cell phone from her back pocket and throwing it at the man.
"Maddie, baby, Maddie, can you hear me?" She asked as she began to slap the girl's cheek a bit, trying to wake her up. Sharon did everything possible, shook her, even poured a small amount of cold water on her but still, the girl was not responding. Working in law enforcement, she knew how slow ambulances could be and her daughter needed to get to a hospital right away. Her pulse was very low- god only knew how long she had been up there. "Jackson, get the car!" She yelled as she picked up the small thirteen year old, holding her close as she went down the steps carefully with Austin following behind her. Once reaching the garage, she got into the back seat and held her in her lap, cradling her head and pressed her lips to the girl's head as she continued to cry. As Austin got inside the car, Sharon took in a deep breath, "Aus, put your seatbelt on, baby."
The whole car ride was silent except for the words coming out of the brunette's mouth. She was pleading with her unconscious little girl, begging her to wake up. Her fingers were glued to every spot she could check her pulse, carefully monitoring it to make sure it was still there. "Oh, Maddie. Oh, baby. You're going to be fine. Just fine." She whispered and continued to cry, reaching down to grab the ends of her cardigan and apply pressure on the open cuts. Just as the woman figured, they got to the hospital faster than any bus could. Feeling the car jerk, she held her daughter as she got out and ran inside only to find her husband yelling at the workers- explaining the situation as calmly as he could possibly do. Bouncing the girl up, she held onto her tightly until she saw a bed being wheeled over and she laid her down gently but quickly onto it and covered her mouth with her blood stained hands. Watching the nurses wheel the bed quickly down the hall and through the double doors, Sharon tried following only to be blocked by a nurse. "Ma'am, we will get you as soon as we can. But right now, you need to wait out here."