Chapter 15
Monday, August 19th, 1985
The rest of the weekend passed quickly, and come Monday, they all met up in the office as usual.
"Good morning Angels."
"Good morning Charlie."
"How was your weekend?"
"Very nice and calm." Sandra smiled, looking around amongst the others, all of them agreeing.
"What did you do Madison?" Kamili asked. They had asked her if she wanted to join in on the girls' weekend they were having but she had told them she had plans already.
"I took my bike up to New York and met some old friends that I haven't seen in a while. We had a good night out on town and yesterday we just rummage around town before heading back here."
"That sounds very nice." Sandra smiled, turning to Kelly. "And you guys went with Peggy to the zoo?"
"Yes." Kelly smiled, looking up at Sandra. "We had a good day."
"Sarah was well excited when she came over." Kamili grinned. "She told us all about the lions and pandas, monkeys and the fact that you got to meet Fluffy."
"How was your weekend Charlie?" Sandra asked, turning towards the invisible boss.
"Oh, dull and adventure-free."
"Aren't you calling from Paris?" Kelly said, raising an eyebrow.
"Well, maybe there was some adventure involved." Charlie's voice chuckled through the speaker phone. "Now tell me Angels, where are we at the case?"
"Good question." Kamili sighed. "Kelly and I are spending today to see if we can find any information about the four missing women. We're going to meet the families and see if we can connect the four. Tomorrow we will meet up with Kris and Agent Donner at the CIA to see if they have found something as well."
"I'll go down to the Prospect, just hanging around as if nothing happened. Madison will come down there as well, working here and there in the background."
"I have been working through the notebooks and the diary as well, listening to the tapes we found, trying to sort out a timeline of Alicia's last 6 months, and she was definitely working on a story including four missing women, four missing witches, but either she didn't want it written down, or she didn't know much. There are no details mentioned that I can find." Madison added.
"What about the diary?" Kelly asked, leaning back in her chair.
"It's all coded."
"If you hand me a copy, I'll give it to Donner, the CIA have great people when it comes to decoding." Kamili said, Madison nodded.
"I left it all at home, but I can go and pick it up at my lunch break."
"Good. If we're not here, just drop it off, I'll tell him to pass by on his way home." Kamili nodded to Madison, before looking around. "Okay, are we ready to take off?
"Keep in touch Angels." Charlie said, the speaker box clicking as he hung up the phone.
"We'll all be moving around during lunch, so we'll meet up in the morning instead." Kelly said. "All of you call and update me when you're heading home."
All agreed, grabbing their things and walked outside to their cars.
"Hey, is this your new car?" Madison said, hurrying out the last steps from the office, moving against the black car.
"Yeah! I picked it up yesterday." Kamili smiled, walking up, unlocking the Audi to allow Madison to have a closer look.
"It looks great."
"It's really fun to drive." Kamili grinned, watching as Madison slid into the car, poking around at all the buttons. "You'll get to try it later on, I promise."
"Looking forward to it." Madison grinned, moving back out of the car.
The four women chitchatted for a moment before getting into their different cars, heading off in different directions. Madison and Sandra heading the same way but taking different routes to not arrive at the same time to throw off suspicions, Sandra instantly moving to her desk to sit down and write while Madison headed into the basement to change clothes.
"Hi. My name is Kelly Garrett and I work for Charles Townsend Detective Agency."
"Detective Agency?"
"Yes. We are investigating the death of a young woman named Alicia and in the process of that we stumbled upon several missing people reports, one of them being, what I believe, your daughter, Anna Jackson?"
The older man by the door froze, his back straight as he stared at Kelly for a moment, not knowing how to respond. Kelly took a deep breath before she continued.
"I just want to talk to you for a few moments if you can spare your time. By finding out who killed Alicia we might be able to find out what happened to Anna. I understand if this is hard for you to talk about, but I would really appreciate your help."
The man gave a small nod, appearing to have suddenly realized what she wanted. Opening the door he allowed her inside, Kelly stepping into the house, carefully looking around in the all-American home.
"I'm Thomas Jackson, but perhaps you already knew that." The man said. "Can I offer you some coffee?"
"I'm good, thank you anyway."
The man nodded, his hand gesturing towards the living room where Kelly sat down into the couch.
"Miss… Garrett, was it?" The man asked, sitting down opposite her, Kelly nodding with a gentle smile. "Please, I don't really understand?"
"Could you please tell me what you know about your daughter's disappearance?"
The man sighed, leaning back into the couch, his eyes glistening with tears as he reminisced.
"She… She was a happy girl, 26 years old at the time we lost her. She was happy, outgoing, everyone loved her. She had finished school, trying to make a name for herself. Then she just disappeared. One day we couldn't reach her, it was as if she was just wiped from the face of the earth."
Kelly sat quiet for a moment, making sure that the man in front of her had finished talking before she began asking questions.
"This was two years ago?"
"Yeah. Two years. I contacted the police the minute I felt something was wrong, and they dug for a bit but soon dropped it as they couldn't even find a body. She just… became a case file in a pile somewhere."
"She became a case file amongst the FBI's cold cases. A close friend of mine works there, and as we began searching for a person who killed another young woman, her name showed up, along with several other cold cases. We believe there might be a connection between the missing women, but we need to find the connection. If we can find that out, it might lead us to the killer. I'm afraid I might not be able to bring your daughter back… But I might give you rest."
"I'll help anyway I can." The man nodded, determination in his eyes.
"What did Anna work with?"
"She was an ecologist. She was always interested in nature, the symbiosis between all living things."
"Is that how she became invested in the occult society?"
"You know about that? Of course you do. I didn't really agree about the whole witch-thing, but perhaps I just wasn't open-minded enough. To me it just seemed like a bunch of crap, pardon my language. But she enjoyed it. She told me there were some great women there, interesting conversations and good foundations for her stories."
Kelly sat straight, leaning forward. "Stories?"
"Oh, she did some freelance writing for a magazine, writing stories about nature and helped them out with proof-reading."
"What was the name of the magazine?"
"I… I don't remember. But I have some old copies I think, give me a minute."
Kelly sat still in the couch, looking around the living room, observing the pictures on the wall showing a happily family of three. It was hard to imagine that the family had just been shattered one day, leaving broken pieces on the ground. Kelly had read in the file that Anna's mother had been so caught up in her daughter's disappearing, obsessed with it, and as the case had been dropped, she had driven her car off the road. Kelly couldn't even picture how she would've reacted to one of her daughters being killed or disappearing without a trace. Just how far would she go?
Mr. Jackson suddenly returned, two magazines in hand, giving them to Kelly. She took them, looking down and took a deep breath. The Prospect. Of course. Why was she even surprised?
"This is great, Mr. Jackson. This is the same magazine that our victim worked for, giving us a clear connection between the two cases."
"Oh. Well, if I can help out in any way, please just let me know. I will do anything I can."
"Thank you, Mr. Jackson. I will be in touch, hopefully with some closure." Kelly said, getting to her feet, shaking her hand. He followed her to the door, watching her get into her car.
"Hi. I'm so sorry for disturbing you. My name is Kamili Diallo and I work for Charles Townsend Detective Agency."
"You don't look like a detective."
Kamili instantly pulled up her identification from her back pocket, handing it to the woman who was peeking out through the door, safety chain still on. The woman snuck a hand out, took the identification and looked at it for a few second before handing it back. She made no motions to open the door though, so Kamili continued.
"You can come back when my husband returns from work." The woman said, beginning to close the door, but Kamili twisted her foot in through the small crack, wearing her trusty steel-toe cap boots.
"Please, we are investigating the murder of a young woman and we have reason to believe that the same person that killed her might've killed Sophie."
"My Sophie?"
"Sophie Brown. She was your daughter, yes?"
The small part of the face that Kamili could see through the crack nodded, her voice changing.
"Yes. She was my daughter."
"May I talk to you about her? We are investigating and hoping that we can find out what happened to her. But we need help. If I could just talk to you for a few minutes, I would really appreciate it."
The eye in the crack looked at Kamili for several long moments, Kamili taking a deep breath before pulling her foot back out, allowing the woman on the other side of the door to make a decision. Mrs. Brown remained quiet, looking at Kamili for another few moments before she closed the door, the door remaining closed long enough for Kamili to believe that she had been shut out. Taking a step back, she was just about to knock on the door again when it opened, the older, small woman standing in the door, nodding for Kamili to step inside.
"Thank you." Kamili smiled, moving inside, being escorted to the small, cramped living room, sitting down into the couch. "I'm sorry for barging in on you like this, but we really need your help."
"I've made my peace with the loss of my daughter." The woman said, anger and hurt both audible in her voice. "Why do you come here to bring all of that pain back up?"
"I'm trying to find out what happened to her."
"Why? What point is there to dig up the past?"
"Don't you want to know what happened to her?"
"It's not going to bring my daughter back."
"No, but it could prevent more young women to lose their lives."
"That doesn't help my daughter."
Kamili got back up on her feet, as the woman in front of her never sat down, not comfortable in Kamili's presence.
"Mrs. Brown, I can't even begin to understand what you have gone through. I can't even phantom it. But if my daughter would just go missing one day, I would fight till the ends of the earth to get her back to me, and if I weren't able to do that I would at least not rest until I found out what happened."
"You have a daughter?"
"Yes." Kamili smiled. "Her name is Yasmin."
"Do you carry her picture?" The woman asked, suddenly smiling gently.
"No." Kamili said. "In my line of business you never know what can happen, and I don't want her to be dragged into it. For safety reasons, I don't carry her picture. But to see her, all I have to do is close my eyes. I'm sure you still carry your daughter with you."
"My memory of her is fading. I'm terrified that I one day won't remember the sound of her laughter or the dimples when she smiled."
"I don't believe that. I don't believe that a mother can ever forget her daughter. How long has it been since she disappeared?"
"Almost three years, but it feels like yesterday. All the interviews, all the policemen, so many questions. And it never led anywhere, they just pushed her aside and gave up. They just… they gave up on my girl. They failed her. My husband and and I are still married but it took very hard on our relationship, blaming each other and God knows what else."
Kamili wasn't sure how to react as the woman in front of her suddenly sat down into the couch, her face into her hands as she began to cry. Carefully sitting down in the armchair opposite the woman, Kamili carefully, gently, put her hand on her knee.
"We are not giving up on her, you have my promise. We are going to be working this case until we find out what happened to your daughter, and four other women. We know one of the women were murdered, and we have reason to believe your daughter was too, by the same person. But we need help to move forward, we need your help."
"How can I help?"
"Tell me about your daughter. What was she like? What did she do for a living? How was she behaving before she disappeared?"
"She was a timid girl, not outspoken, kept back in the distance, didn't make much sound. She loved the forest, and would spend all her time out there, observing the trees, the glades, the animals. She was never as happy as she was when being out in the woods."
"One of the connections she has with the other women is that she was invested with the wicca community?"
"Yes, I never understood it but it made me happy that she found friends, that she found people that she could open up around. I always thought it made her happy and would help her along in her life. Then she just… disappeared. No one there knew anything, and no one seemed interested to help. Such friends, right?"
Kamili sat quiet, shaking her head as she listened to Mrs. Brown.
"What did Sophie do for a living?"
"She was a photographer. She loved taking pictures of nature, the trees." Mrs. Brown said, her hand gesturing up, making a circle. Kamili looked around, realizing the walls were covered in black and white photos of tress.
"These shots are beautiful." Kamili smiled, turning back to the woman. "Was she a freelance photographer?"
"Yes, but she sold most of her work to a magazine, called the Prospect."
"The Prospect?"
"Yes. They paid well for her photos, were good to her. But they were no help when she disappeared, kept saying it was tragic but nothing they knew anything about, saying that people often just came and went as they pleased."
"You have been more helpful than you know." Kamili smiled, pulling up a business card. "If there's anything you think off, don't hesitate to call me. I will keep you updated on how the case proceeds; I promise."
Mrs. Brown nodded, smiling to Kamili as the two made it to the door, Kamili shaking her hand before moving to her car, heading to the next stop of the day.
"Hi. My name is Kelly Garrett and I work for Charles Townsend Detective Agency."
"Charles Townsend? That's a very respectable firm."
Kelly's face broke out into a gentle, humble smile.
"It's not common for people to have heard of us."
"I worked my whole life in law enforcement, everyone in the business should know about the Townsend Agency."
Kelly nodded, shrugging her shoulders a bit. She had read in the case file that the man in front of her, Richard Wilson, had worked as a cop his whole life before retiring. Now he stood with his back tall in front of her, his wife right behind him peaking over his shoulder as he took a step back, allowing Kelly inside.
"What can we do for you Miss Garrett?"
"I'm here to talk about Olivia."
Both of the seniors inhaled sharply, especially the Mrs. and Kelly instantly continued.
"I know it might be hard to talk about her, and I understand that completely. But all I ask for is a few moments of your time. We are working a case at the moment that has dragged up her old case file, along with several other missing women, and we are trying to find a link, to possibly find out what happened."
"I made sure that everything that could come out from that case was, I pulled every lead and yanked every chain. Everyone I knew was working on that, I even dragged the FBI into it. They never did find her or had any clues to what happened."
"I know that. And I am not sure I will be able to find a body, but I do have hope that we can get a confession out of the killer and that way find out what happened. But we are stomping at the same spot at the moment and all help is valuable to us."
"Coffee?"
"Sure, thank you." Kelly smiled, nodding to Mrs. Wilson who disappeared into the kitchen, Kelly and the husband following her as the two of them sat down at the kitchen table.
"Anything we can do." Mr. Wilson said. "We've been waiting for that case file to open up again. None of us are resting until we can find out what happened."
"We will not be resting until we solved this case. You know of our reputation – we have never failed a case. We always find the answers, and this case will not be any different."
"How can we help?"
"Just tell me about your daughter. I want to know what I can't read in her files. What was she like? What did she do in her spare time, what did she do for a living?"
"She was a sweet girl, didn't bother anyone. Kept to herself but had plenty of friends. She always loved nature, would spend hours on the beach listening got the ocean, and spend hours in the woods watching the trees. She didn't have many hobbies, but she was very interested in the world of the occult. She saw those girls as sisters, sister we were never able to give her."
"We lost a baby girl, many, many years ago, to sudden infant death syndrome. Our Olivia was only a few years but I'm afraid she never got over it. She spent her whole life searching for sisters. And when she finally finds them… We lost her too."
"I am so terribly sorry for your loss." Kelly said carefully. I can't even imagine your pain."
The seniors sat quiet for a moment before Mr. Wilson continued again.
"She worked as an editor, helping out at a magazine. She was very good at it."
"What was the name of the magazine?"
"The Prospect. I always liked that name. Now it seems ridiculous."
"You answering with the name of that magazine just made me certain that your daughter met the same faith as the other women."
"If we can be at any help…"
"I will keep you informed." Kelly said, picking up one of her brand-new business cards. "And if you think of anything that might help me, don't hesitate to call. My pager number is on there, if you call that I will get back to you as soon as I can."
"Thank you."
"Thank you for your help."
Kelly was just about to let herself out of the house, walking through the doorway, when Mrs. Wilson stopped her.
"Do you have kids, Miss Garrett?"
Kelly stopped, turning in the doors, a serious look on her face for a second before she gave a small nod.
"Yes, I have two daughters."
"What are they like?"
"Edith, please." Mr. Wilson commented, feeling the question was out of place. Kelly on the other hand held up her hand, walking closer to Mrs. Wilson, picking up her wallet. In a hidden compartment was a picture of her girls, Ella holding Kris' hand and Sarah holding Aurore's.
"Their names are Ella and Sarah. Ella is 12, and a wonderful little chef. Sarah is turning 6 very soon, and she's hoping to become a ballerina or a princess, she hasn't made up her mind yet."
"They are beautiful."
"Thank you."
Mrs. Wilson took a long deep breath before looking Kelly straight in the eye.
"What would you do if you lost them both, without answers, nor explanation? I understand that you work in a business where you catch monsters, but what if there's no monster to catch? No one to blame?"
"I can't even put myself in the mindset of that." Kelly said. "But I am fairly certain that I would lose my mind. My girls keep me grounded, in a world of pain and suffering they are the ones to bring roses to my garden. They make the sun shine on my darkest day and they give me a reason to keep doing what I do. They make me want to catch every bad person out there and they make me want to make the streets safe, for their sake. Not having them in my life… I would be a train wreck. I am so amazed by you, by the fact that you're even standing up."
Mrs. Wilson nodded, not sure what to say, but now certain that Kelly would take the case seriously. Kelly put on her kindest of smiles, reaching out to carefully place her hand on top of Mrs. Wilson's.
"I can't begin to understand your pain. But I will do everything in my power to give you closure."
"Thank you."
Kelly nodded, smiling as she once again turned to leave. Just as she reached the door, her pager beeped. Turning to look at it for a second, she turned back to the couple.
"Would you mind terribly if I borrowed your phone? It's local."
"No, please, go ahead."
Kelly smiled gratefully, sitting down in the couch and picking up the phone, calling the number on her pager.
"Hello, this is Kelly Garrett. Someone paged me from this number?"
"Hi there, my name is Stephen Miller. I have one of your co-workers here, Mrs. Diallo?"
"Is everything alright?" Kelly asked, instantly worried. She had recognized the name of the man straight away as one of the families of their list, pulling the list out from her back pocket seeing his name and address on there.
"There was a bomb."