Chapter 54
Charisma
/Las Vegas - Desert Palm Hospital/
Jim was at Desert Palm talking to Dr. Mehta. "Best estimate. she's about 30 weeks along, came in alone, slight bleeding with contractions at 20-minute intervals." the doctor said.
"She say who the father is?" Jim asked.
"No. This isn't the first time she's been pregnant. Scarring suggests she's delivered before."
"You find her parents?"
"Refuses to tell us where they are. Only says her first name is Melanie and she's 12 and a 1/2 years old."
"Child Services will arrange for foster care after you release her." Jim said.
"She's not going anywhere until after the baby's born. Next 10 weeks, this is home." Dr. Mehta said and walked away.
Jim walked into the room where Melanie was talking to a nurse. "Hey." Jim said to the nurse and then turned to Melanie. "Melanie? I'm Jim. I'm a police officer. Can I talk to you for a minute?" Melanie looked at Jim and said nothing. "The doctor said that you had another baby before. Is that right?"
Melanie nodded. "He died. My mom says he's with God now."
Jim nodded. "Well it was good that you came to a hospital. Was that your idea?" Melanie looked and Jim again and refused to say anything. "Was it your mom's?" Melanie angrily turned her head and looked away. "Well I'm glad your mom thought of that. She must love you very much. If you tell me where you live, I can go get her."
"I'm not supposed to tell."
"Melanie... If you were my daughter, I'd want to be here with you." Jim handed her a pen and his notebook. "Will you write down your address for me?" Melanie took the notebook and started writing her address on it. "You know if you want, I can also try to find the father of your baby. Can you tell me his name?"
"Abraham."
"And who's Abraham?"
Melanie handed the notebook back to Jim. "He's my husband."
/Abraham's Apartment Building/
Jim was in front of Abraham's building talking on the phone. "Well, the guy should be home. She said that he doesn't work." Just then a squad car approached. "Okay they're here. I'll see you in ten. Bye." Jim hung up his phone.
Officer Green pointed to a window in the building. "Somebody's watching." he said to Jim as the curtains moved back into place.
"My partner's on his way. Keep your eye out." Jim climbed the stairs, pounded on the door and a little boy answered. "Hello," Jim said and flashed his badge. ""Hey, I'm a police officer. Is your mom or dad home?" The boy shook his head. There were a group of children gathered behind him. "Are all you guys here by yourself?"
Abraham walked to the door. "Hey kids." he said and put his hands on the little boy's shoulders. "It's okay Samuel, go on in and play." Samuel left and Abraham looked at Jim. "Can I help you?"
"Detective Brass, Las Vegas Police. Are you Abraham?"
"Why?"
"Sir, I'd like to ask you to step outside, please."
"No, I'm sorry, I can't."
"Things'll be a lot easier for you if you step outside." Abraham slammed the door in Jim's face. "Son of a bitch." Jim took out his radio and started talking. "Dispatch, I need a couple of units outside of 104 West 120th Street. The suspect is inside. I need to secure all exits."
"How many kids in there?" Officer Zermeno asked.
"At least four. Go around back - " Jim was interrupted by shots being fired, breaking the back window of the squad car. Jim and the officers took cover behind the car and Jim radioed for help. "1013! 1013! Shots fired! Shots fired at police!"
/Charisma/
The SWAT team showed up to provide backup. As well as Sam and Cosmo. The armored units were pointing their guns at the building. "We think the hostages are in the living room." a SWAT member said pointing at a map of the building. "Any idea how many kids?"
"I saw at least four." Jim said.
"We get a fix on the perp?" Sam asked.
"No, but we got all exits covered. He's not getting out."
More shots fired. "Multiple shots fired inside." an officer said over the radio.
"Entry team, go! Entry team, go!" the SWAT leader said on the radio.
The team used a battering ram to gain entry to the building. "Call EMS! Get EMS here now!" the officer on the radio yelled.
Jim, Sam, Cosmo and the SWAT leader ran toward the building, an officer stumbled out and looked really upset. "Come here! Somebody come here!" Officer Zermeno called.
"Zermeno. Where's the perp?" the SWAT leader asked.
"He's gone!"
"What happened?" Jim asked.
"They're dead. They're all dead." Zermeno answered.
Jim, Sam, and Cosmo all walked slowly into the building. The lights were all out, so they all turned their flashlights on. As they looked around, they saw lit candles, writing all over the walls, there was a crib and a playpen, bunk beds, a child's drawing on the wall, and a bible on a table. They looked down and saw the bodies of the children on the floor. There was a blood-stained stuffed rabbit on the floor and a pacifier lying next to a blood stain. Sam and Cosmo couldn't bear to look anymore and turned away. Jim had tears in his eyes and he pointed his flashlight at a large painting of Abraham on the wall. Jim looked over and saw the body of the boy who answered the door lying on the floor in the next room. He walked over and kneeled down next to the body.
/LVPD - Conference Room/
The room was filled with detectives and police officers. Minus Khandi who was working on a case in Dallas. Sheriff Burdick was briefing everyone. "CSI found an old tunnel under the house leading to a vacant building on the next block. So far, that's where the trail ends. Abraham Ophion has no known criminal record, though it is likely a fake name. We do know eight years ago, he tried to obtain tax-exempt status for his group the Church of Wisdom and Sight. That and the way they lived and the events surrounding their deaths indicate we may be dealing with a cult. Other members may have escaped through the tunnel. Our priority now is to find them and to identify the victims. In addition, I want to make sure you're all taking care of yourselves. The department is providing psych support, and you're all to sit down and talk to one of these people sooner rather than later. It is not optional." He looked at Jim, Sam and Cosmo. "None of you are exempt from what I've just said."
"Sheriff? We can always get our heads shrunk after this case is over." Cosmo said.
"Get it done, or you're off the case." Burdick said and walked away.
"I can sit down with each of you right now," Dr. Philip Kane said.
"Fine. Let's get it over with." Cosmo replied.
Cosmo walked off with Dr. Kane. Jim pulled out his cell phone to make a call when he noticed he had one missed call and a message. He dialed in his code and listened. It was from Khandi. "Hey honey, it's me. I thought I would call and say that I don't know how long I am going to be down here. But I just got wrapped up in another case. Hope everything is fine. Call me when you get the chance. Love you."
No everything was not fine. Jim, Sam and Cosmo just found a room full of dead children. And now on top of everything, Khandi was prolonging her stay in Dallas. That was the last thing Jim wanted to hear. He couldn't sleep when Khandi wasn't in bed beside him, but of course when she came back from her New York trip he never told her that. Maybe he should have. Then again he didn't want her to have to stay in Vegas because he couldn't sleep. No, Jim Brass was many things, but a wuss he's not.
/Interrogation Room - Cosmo/
Dr. Kane was in there talking to Cosmo. "What do you most remember seeing after you entered the house?"
"Dead bodies." Cosmo said.
"Anything specific about them?"
"A bunch of dead bodies. Seen plenty."
"So this was no different than any other case?"
"What do you want me to say? That it was terrible? Fine... It was terrible... But one way or another... They all are."
/Interrogation Room - Jim/
"And you think this is a big waste of your time?"
"Hell, no, I think we should sit around all day and chat about our feelings."
"Well, what do you want to talk about?"
"Well, it doesn't really matter. We could all talk till we're blue in the face. It's not gonna change the fact that the human race is ever-evolving and will always come up with elaborate, repulsive, and depraved ways to kill each other."
"And that's really the hard part for you, isn't it?"
"What?" Jim asked.
"That you can still be repulsed. As cynical as you try to be, you can still be sickened." Jim was speechless. "How are you feeling now?"
"I don't know."
"This was an extremely traumatic event, Jim. The grief that you're feeling is completely natural."
"I know that."
"Do you feel like you shouldn't be feeling anything? Is that how you feel?" Jim sighed. "Tell me what you did last night after you went home."
"I hugged my kids. After what I witnessed I didn't want to let them go. No kid should ever be subjected to that kind of pain and cruelty."
/Interrogation Room - Sam/
"Did you talk to anyone about what you saw yesterday?"
"Nobody needs that in their head." Sam replied.
"You got it in your head. What does that mean to you?"
"It means nobody's safe."
/Interrogation Room - Cosmo/
"And that makes you feel - helpless?"
"Not at all... Look I got a son and I know I won't always be able to protect him."
"What made you think of your son?"
"Why do you think? The victims were kids."
/Conference Room/
Cosmo and Sam were looking at the board full of pictures of the crime scene. "CSI collected these names inside the house from paycheck stubs in the mail. They're all female but the names on the socials are all fake." Sam said.
"One of these women has to come forward. Their kids are lying unclaimed in that morgue." Cosmo replied.
Jim walked in holding a copy of Abraham's mug shot in his hand. "I got Abraham's real ID." he said and stuck the mug shot on the board. "His name is Eugene Hoff."
"How'd you get it?" Cosmo asked.
"CSI printed all of the common surfaces in the house. His prints hit. Eugene Hoff, four arrests in the 80's - for check forgery and counterfeiting, identity theft, and various frauds." Jim said.
"He's no religious guru. He's a con man." Sam stated.
"If this whole cult thing is nothing more than a scam, why did he kill only the kids? Where are their parents?" Jim asked.
"Our guy's last place of employment was a Pentecostal church. It's a place to start." Cosmo said and noticed Jim was worried about something. "What?"
"They're gonna send me home." Jim said.
"No, they're not."
"Yeah. I was way too emotional. I couldn't hold it together."
Burdick poked his head in the door. "Cosmo, can you step in my office?" Cosmo walked into Burdick's office where Dr. Kane was waiting; Burdick closed the door behind him. "I'm referring you to psych services."
"I just talked to them." Cosmo stated.
"We've determined you require something ongoing." Burdick said.
Cosmo turned to Dr. Kane. "What do you want me to do? Do you want me to cry? Is that it?"
"If you won't take care of yourself, you have to allow us to — "
"If you stayed out of my head and let me do my job, there wouldn't be a problem." Cosmo yelled.
"You're out sick until psych says you can return." Burdick said. Cosmo turned away from Dr. Kane and looked at Burdick, speechless. "A week at most. Take it." Cosmo turned to walk out of Burdick's office. "And you don't need to be carrying a gun around right now."
Cosmo walked back in and put his gun on Burdick's desk before walking out. Jim saw Cosmo walk out of Burdick's office and sensed that something was wrong. Cosmo looked at him, grabbed his coat and walked off without saying a word.
"Cos..." Jim called.
But it was too late he was gone. Now it turned out it was just Jim and Sam working this case now. Khandi was in Dallas and Cosmo had just been sent home. Well there was nothing Jim could do about it, so he found Sam and they got to work.
/Charisma/
Jim and Sam were in the conference room and Jim was on the phone. "Any word on Melanie?" Sam asked.
"She's undergoing minor surgery to stop premature labor. We can't talk to her for a few hours." Jim hung up the phone and walked over to the board and stared at the pictures taped to it.
"Found some more info on the church where Abraham worked — Christian Tabernacle of Grace. Pretty mainstream."
"Abraham preaches anything that'll make him money. It's probably just another con." Jim said, walked off and Sam followed him.
/Christian Tabernacle Church/
Jim and Sam were they're talking to Reverend Tucker. "Eugene signed up for our Bible study fellowship when he joined the church. After a couple of months, he asked for a more active role and I made him director of faith ministries."
"You must have been pretty impressed with him to give him a job." Jim said.
"I admit. I was fooled. Eugene's discussion groups had nearly 100 members. He was very well-liked."
"So what happened to change that?" Sam asked.
"The more popular he got, the more bizarre he became. He preached that the serpent was Christ."
"Explains his tattoos. And people actually bought this?" Jim asked.
"Ten families left the parish when I fired him."
Jim showed him a picture of Melanie. "She one of his followers?"
"I don't recognize her. But I know one family who left Eugene's group after a few years. They may be able to tell you more."
/Carl and Simone Buchanan's Apartment/
"Abraham was magnetic. It was like he knew you. He could be talking to a roomful of people and it was like you were the only person there." Simone said.
"But things changed. He became paranoid. He kept telling us that we were going to be punished for our beliefs. That the government was going to kill us and we had to be ready to defend ourselves." Carl added.
"Meaning what?" Sam asked.
"Collecting weapons. Trips to the firing range. Storing food." Simone answered.
"He started separating the married couples. He said you couldn't be soldiers of God if you were slaves to flesh. The men slept on one floor and the women always slept on Abraham's floor. Eventually, he drove most of the men away." Carl said.
"What about the children?" Jim asked.
Carl looked at his wife and then turned to his daughter. "Janey, go and do your homework." He waited until Janey was out of the room and then turned back to Jim and Sam. "Abraham always talked about the purity and goodness of children. But, really, he only paid attention to the girls. One night, I caught him in Janey's room. She was four. He was down to his shorts."
"She told us that he never touched her. But we left that night. Looking back, I can't believe that we got caught up in this." Simone said.
"Look, we know how crazy he is now. But back then, he was convincing." Carl got up and walked over to a drawer. He took out a videotape, walked back and handed it to Jim. "See for yourself."
/LVPD - Conference Room/
Jim, Burdick and Dr. Kane were watching the tape. Abraham was preaching on it. "Are you willing to prove your obedience? Because the time will come, and you will be tested. When the soldiers of Satan come for you, when they demand your allegiance and threaten to murder you...and your children and destroy all we have..." He held the heads of one of his followers and looked into her eyes. "Will you make that sacrifice in the name of God?" She nodded. "Yes?" She nodded again. "Yes." Then he kissed her on her forehead.
"Guess that makes us soldiers of Satan," Jim said sarcastically. "The guy isn't too paranoid."
"He wants his followers to be. It's part of the manipulation. Instilling the idea of being persecuted creates solidarity and loyalty." Dr. Kane said.
"Yeah, loyal enough to allow him to rape their daughters." Jim replied. His phone rang and he answered. "Brass."
"A lot of cult leaders were known to have sexual relations with the children in their groups. David Koresh had a ten-year-old bride. The leader of the Nuwaubian cult was convicted of molesting 14 children." Kane stated.
"Hold on a second." Jim said putting the caller on hold. "Sheriff, you're gonna want to take this. She says she'll only speak to the person in charge."
"About what?" Burdick asked.
"The victims. Wants to know if one of them was a nine-year-old boy with brown hair and a scar on his left leg."
"Trace it," Burdick said and went back to his office.
Dr. Kane picked up the phone and dialed out. "Agent Kane. FBI number 8957616. I need a trace on this line."
Jim put the phone on speaker to record the conversation.
/Burdick's Office/
"Sheriff Burdick."
"I want to know about the children who died." the woman said.
"What's your name?" Burdick asked.
"I can't tell you."
"Okay. Okay, you don't have to."
"Just tell me if one of them was a boy. Nine years-old, brown eyes, brown hair."
"We can arrange for you to see all the bodies. That way you would be absolutely sure." Burdick said.
"Please, tell me."
"Ma'am. You are not in any trouble. We can -" Burdick said but the phone cut off. Burdick ran back to the conference room. "Did we get it?"
"Pay phone at Desert Palm hospital," Kane said.
"Where Melanie is. It's gotta be the mother." Jim said.
/Desert Palm Hospital/
Jim closed the curtain to give Melanie and himself more privacy. "I'm not talking to you!" Melanie said.
"Melanie, I know you think that I want to hurt you and your family, but that's not true."
"Just go away!"
"Your mother was asking about a little boy. Is that your little brother? Is that Samuel?" Melanie tried to look at a magazine but Jim took it away. "Melanie, do you know what happened the night you came to the hospital?"
"I'm not listening!"
"Something terrible. Abraham is a liar. He killed your little brother. He killed your friends! He might kill your mom. Now, I can protect her. But I need you to tell me where she is."
Melanie started to cry. "Mom said Abraham was taking them to a safe place."
TBC...
