Chapter 1 - Trial

Caulder took one final drag off of his last cigarette, and dropped it. He crushed it as he walked up to the courthouse. He wasn't the one on trial, nor was he in the jury. He was here for Camilla, his late friend Hank's daughter; she had asked him to sit in on the trial of one of her friends' dad.
He pulled his shades off, and hung them from his pocket. His Honey colored hair got in the way of his eyes without his sunglasses. Several of the people watched as he walked by, his calm demeanor, and his bluejeans, and pocketed White T seemed out of place here, but he could care less, he was the last one in as the court came into session.
He spotted Camilla in the second row, her beautiful blond hair was hard to miss in a place like this. He took a seat beside her. She was talking to her friend, and it took a moment for her to notice he was there. She turned, her eyes almost as tearful as the redhead next to her.
“Uncle Caulder,” she hugged him. “This is Tanya, her dad is on trial for robbery, but he was with her mom that night. But she died in that pileup on Fourteenth.”
“Sorry to hear about that,” he said, watching as the judge entered, they all stood, and the trial began.
He watched as the called the first witness, a teller at the bank, she was shaky as she answered the question. There was some evidence brought forth, one being blood samples from a gunshot wound one of the robbers sustained, as well a tape of the whole event, a. He watched it intently, to the very end.
“Tanya,” he whispered quietly. “How long has your father had that limp?”
“What limp,” she asked.
Exactly.
They recessed for a day after two more witnesses. Caulder caught the defense on the way out. He was trying to keep everything in his arms as Caulder caught up to him. “Hey, Mister Olathe.”
He turned, and looked him over once. “Can I help you?”
“They say they have him, dead to rights. But they have DNA evidence, that's wrong.”
“What's this all about?”
“Take a long look at the last twenty seconds of the video,” he whispered. “ Ask yourself why he doesn't have a limp right about now.”
“Who are you?”
“I'm ex-detective Caulder Reign.”
“May I ask why it's ex-detective?”
“I was way too thorough...” He lied, because he quit after Hank had died.
Olathe looked slightly confused. “Does that make you a Private Investigator now?”
“Of sorts,” he said. He did have his own building, and a secretary. “We handle small things, finding people, locating victims, escaped criminals.”
Camilla caught up to him, and Tanya looked slightly comatose behind her. He looked back to Mr. Olathe. “I'll let you review the facts, call me if you need me,” he handed him his card.
“Definitely,” he said, and ran off.
He turned and looked at Camilla. “Girls, you look like you need some food, let's go.”
He led them down the steps. Sacred City, Arizona was a hot place this time of year, which was all year. He wasn't from here, he just wound up here after a few bad choices. He had only found one place to find a good meal in town, an uptown diner named after the city.
He pulled into a space next to the Diner. And led them into the diner, which smelled like biscuits and gravy. “Why are we here,” Tanya asked, looking at the floor.
“A good lunch will make you feel better,” he didn't really believe that, but maybe what he had to ask her, and what he had to tell her would help.
He sat them in his usual corner booth. Leah, a brunette waitress in her mid-forties walked up to him, she held a tray with a coffee cup on it, and the pot in her other hand. She noticed the girls, both distraught. “Another case, Caulder?”
“Of course, Leah,” he said, waving a twenty dollar bill. “Bring them some pie, will you?”
“Cherry if you have it,” Tanya squeaked.
“Sure thing, hon,” she said, and walked away.
Caulder looked at Tanya for a moment. She repeatedly looked up, and then back down to the table. “Tanya, tell me, does your father have a brother?”
“Not that he ever told me,” she said. “We only ever met my aunt, and that was only twice.”
He pulled out his small, red notebook. “So, was your aunt your father's twin?”
Tanya thought for a moment. “No, she was nearly eight years older, I believe.”
Leah returned with the pie, for the girls, and a small chocolate milk for him. “Thanks,” he said, nodding and handing her the twenty. “That will be it for now, tell Richie I would like to talk to him in a bit.”
“'Kay, love,” she said, swinging her hips as she walked away.
“Did you meet his mother, or has she passed on?”
Tanya shook her head, finishing the bit in her mouth.“No, but she lives upstate, we never see her either.”
“Was she at the trial?”
“No, she's in a retirement home,” Tanya said, pulling out her phone. “But I do have the number.”
“Please,” Caulder said. “I need as much information as I can get.
“It's ringing. Hello, this is Tanya Birch, may I please talk to my grandmother,” She said, and waited as they connected her. “Hi Grammy. No, the trial isn't over yet, but there's a man here who needs to talk to you, to see if he can get daddy off of the charges.”
She handed the phone to Caulder. “Ma'am, my name is Caulder Reign, I just have a couple questions for you, regarding your sons.”
She inhaled. “What about them?”
That was what he needed. “You do have two, then, ma'am?”
“Yes, but I haven't seen Aaron for almost twenty years,” she said, he head her whimpering. “How did you know that I had two?”
“They were twins, am I right,” he asked, trying not to sound forceful.
She gasped. “Yes, but how, I haven't told anyone.”
“There's some DNA evidence in the case, it points to your son, but it's the wrong one, isn't it?”
“Yes, they were identical,” she said. “But, as I said before, I haven't seen him in two decades.”
“Thank you for your help ma'am,” He said, handing the phone back to Tanya, who spoke to her grandmother for a few moments, and then hung up.
Tanya seemed better than she did before. “Thank you, mister Reign.”
“Are you staying with Camilla?”
“Yes,” she said, finishing off the pie.
“I'll take you back in a few minutes, just let me talk to the cook,” he said, looking over to the counter, Richie was waiting in his white apron next to the end. Reign stood, and walked to the counter.
“Hey, man, it's been a while.”
“You still have your contacts,” Reign said, sliding a twenty to him. “There's a little bit of help I need.”
“Tell me what I should be looking for,” Richie said his Hispanic blood thick in his accent.
“There was a robbery a few months back, the suspect is on trial,” he said, looking down. “Only thing is, I know it isn't him that did it, it was his twin.”
“So what do you need from me?”
“I need to know if any of the local 'talent' got rich in a hurry, or if anyone ended up with a limp after a job went sour,” Reign said, surveying the place once. “See if any of the big bosses had a hand in anything.”
“I'll keep an eye out, man, but no guarantees, as usual.”
“You never let me down,” Reign said. “Just don't get yourself killed.”
“I'm way too careful for that.”
“If you were careful, you wouldn't have needed my help,” he said, patting Richie's shoulder, and walking back to the table. “Come on girls, we need to get you back home, I have a lot to do.”

He dropped them off in front of Camilla's house, waved goodbye to Janet, who held her four year old, Ren, at her side. She looked at him like she wanted to talk.
Instead, he continued on to his office. Reign's Investigative Practices were stenciled in large print, black letters over the door. It was a small, corner office on Ivy and Ninth.
Delilah, his secretary, was waiting inside. He had hired her during his first real case, she had black hair, tied up, and supple white skin. She knew she had an amazing body, and she flaunted it in the outfits she wore.
Today she wore a white blouse with one of the buttons missing, showing a bit of cleavage. “Sorry about the shirt, Caulder, the button popped off.”
“Does that explain the split in the skirt,” he asked, taking the folder she handed him.
“No, that's just me, showing off my legs,” she said, walking to her desk.
“Of course it is,” he said. “I thought we talked about this.”
She laughed sarcastically. “Oh, no, you talked, I listened, and then said no.”
He looked over the folder, it was one of the first jobs he had done as a P.I. An arson case where some girl from downtown ended up going to prison. He held the pardon in his hands, she would be off of the hook for the arson, but not for the evading arrest. She should be off the hook for the whole affair, seeing how she was wrongly accused, but the beating she gave a guard might affect that.
He closed the file, put it on the edge of his desk, and turned his computer on. He was looking for any trace of Aaron Birch in the last two decades. He had gone through years of nothing from Nineteen eighty-six, until he popped up, back in Sacred City, the cops picked him up for Grand Theft Auto.
He spent a few years in the prison, until he fell off of the grid, just about the time of the robbery, he couldn't even find an address. He took a break, walked up front, to find Delilah doing her nails. “any calls?”
“Just your mom, wondering if you had a wife yet,” she said, giggling. “She thought we might be having relations and thought it best to hang up.”
“Mom,” he scoffed.
She pulled herself onto her desk seductively. “Do you want to have relations, mister Reign?”
He looked at her sternly.
“Fine, you don't know what you're missing,” she said, sliding back into her chair. “And I looked forward to meeting her.”
He got a cup of coffee, and sat on the edge of her desk for a moment.
She poked him in the back. “Are you doing your thing?”
“Um-hm,” he closed his eyes and thought hard for a moment. “Now I get it.”
“Get what?”
“Where he went, he took a different name, probably the john doe from the scene,” Reign said, looking back at the tape in his mind. “They kept their I.D. stuff elsewhere, and after they got away, he went to the hospital, and was forgotten about.”
Delilah sighed. “This case hard?”
“No harder than the Springer affair.”
“Oh, so easy for you, harder for everyone else.”
“Sure,” he said, sitting the coffee down, and heading for the door. “Usual time, Delilah, you don't get paid overtime.”
“What a shame,” she said, returning to her nails.
The door to the tiny office shut hard behind him. She looked at the coffee cup on her desk, he hadn't drank any of it.

He got in his car, a 1969 Carousel Red GTO Judge. His friend Hank had given it to him in his will, he treated the car like it was priceless, because it was, it had only been refurbished, and that was the driver's seat.
He turned the key, the engine revving as he did so. He sat for a moment, and thought of Janet, who he hadn't actually sat and talked to in a while. And then Hank's kids, Camilla and Ren, who he had taken out to lunch and the zoo two days ago.
Janet had only looked at him like that once before, right after Hank had died, when she needed him, and he wasn't there. He took a deep breath, and pulled out into the road, he had a lot of ground to cover today, and it was already two.
He had an appointment with a doctor at Sacred General hospital. Dr. Rio was the one who stitched him and Hank up more than once, and he knew the hospital better than anyone. Best of all, he knew Caulder, and his kind of business.
He pulled the Car into the parking garage next to the hospital, got out, and walked to the service hub. The guard let him in. he walked down the quiet hall towards Dr. Rio's office. He had a new assistant today, she told him he'd have to wait, but Rio walked to his door.
“Alyssa, he's okay,” Rio said, motioning for his him to join him in his office, he closed the door behind Caulder. “It's been a while, Mr. Reign.”
“I know, doctor.”
Rio pulled a soda out of his mini-fridge. “You haven't been in for several months, how's work?”
“That's why I'm here, Juan, a case, for a friend of a friend,” Reign said. “I have a couple of questions.”
“How's Hank's wife, Janet, was it?”
“She's as good as a woman can be four years after her husband died,” Caulder said. “I haven't really been able to talk to her in a while, too many cases.”
“He was your friend, Caulder, and so is she,” Juan said, sipping the clear liquid. “So, this case for a friend of a friend?”
“Its about six months ago,” Caulder said, looking out the window. “Someone came in with a gunshot to the leg, wound like that, he'd have limped or rolled out of here.”
Rio looked at him over his glass. “Lower leg?”
Caulder shook his head. “Same as Angelou.”
Tony Angelou, the captain of the police force, was a great captain, but his tenure ended as soon as he took a bullet in the lower leg. The hollow-point ended up taking out bone and most of the muscle.
“There was one, but the patient disappeared soon after he stabilized,” Rio said, running his hands over his keyboard adeptly. “All we have from him is a blood sample from the incident.”
Reign thought for a moment. “That will prove something, could you point him out in a lineup?”
“People change a lot in six months,” Rio said, continuing his analysis on the computer. “But we still have all of the surveillance from the event, including pictures.”
“Pictures?”
“He hit a Nurse, gave her several stitches. We took pictures of everything.”
Caulder sighed. “You, Doctor probably saved a man from jail.” His cell phone started ringing. “One minute.”
“Hello, is this Caulder Reign?”
“Mister Olathe?”
“Yes, I was wondering if I would be able to get your help on the case,” he asked. “It would mean a lot to us.”
“Well, first things first, call Doctor Rio at Sacred General, he has evidence that will at least postpone the trial,” he said, closing his eyes. “But, for now, I'm looking in to other leads.”
“Thank you,” Olathe sounded overjoyed. “Will you be in touch?”
“Of course,” Caulder told him, and ended the call.
“I'll bee here,” Dr. Rio said. “If you get hurt.”
“Don't worry, Juan, I'll be okay,” he said, and left the room.
“But you don't have Hank to watch your back,” Dr. Rio said, finishing his soda, and leaving his office.

Chapter 2 - Hindsight

Caulder sat in the parking garage for a moment, his eyes closed, and he thought. Then he remembered: Aaron had only camped out in abandoned buildings after his other jobs, and there was only one place near Sacred City.
New Sun apartments, a complex started some eight months ago, sat almost completely abandoned on the edge of town. If he was there, it would be dangerous to go alone, but he was his only backup. He'd stay quiet, keep to the shadows, and keep his eyes open, all he needed was confirmation that he was there, and if he wasn't, the cops would have a manhunt.
He pulled the car to the side of the road, just outside, but she was loud, there was always a chance to be heard in the Judge. The lights, built by the city, were still on, mainly to keep kids from partying in the complex.
He slid under one of the pieces of plastic, and into the main building, some quarter mile from where he parked. It was almost eight now, and the inside of the building eerie in the half-darkness.
Then, there was a noise, not too far up from where he was: a radio playing classic rock. Someone was here. He walked up the stairs, quiet as he could, he was only here to do a bit of light recon, and call the police on his way out.
Admittedly, he'd much rather make the arrest, but his jurisdiction ended with the information. He walked to the edge of the unfinished wall. The place reeked of urine and other smells he'd rather not contemplate.
He heard voices in the room, both of them were men, but one of them had a European accent, it sounded Italian.
The Italian spoke first. “Do you know when your men will have her?”
“Don't worry, man, they have it all covered,” the other man, an American, said, judging from his accent, he was from California.
He peered into the room, it was just a twilight meeting, but neither of the men were Aaron. He slid back to the shadows, but it sounded like a kidnapping, and the cop in him told him to listen.
“She was supposed to be at the market, did they get her or not,” the European sounded angry.
“Chill, they have her, and they're taking her to the location I told them to go,” the American replied. “We won't let her out of our sight until the job is over, and that wont be for a while, so you only have to worry about the food.”
“I don't know why they only want her out of the way for a while, in the old days, you could take recordings, and drop her in a ditch,” the European said. “But these days, it's all about the guarantees and leverage, it's just so much to worry about.”
“Yeah, but Johnny my boy, think about the green we'll make off of this job, ten times easy what we spent on putting her away,” the American said, slapping the other man's shoulder, and they started walking towards the door.
Caulder sneaked to the shadows, and up the stairs. He wished he knew more about that, or knew who she was. Anything that would help, but for now, it was back to the job at hand, finding Aaron.
He combed the rest of the building, but all he found was a room full of food wrappers, and a makeshift bed and toilet. If Aaron was staying here, this was his room. He combed around the trash, and found one of the wrappers with an expiration date. It was two weeks from today.
Which meant he was still around somewhere, or he had just left. Caulder closed his eyes as he sat against the wall. Finally, he remembered the trail of dust, he had almost not noticed it before. It was a thin white powder that covered the path from the entrance, up the here. It would show anyone that wasn't Aaron.
And that, of course, meant he was still paranoid, probably still had a sizable amount of cash hidden here somewhere. He touched his phone, and dialed the cops. He left enough information for them to send a squad out, he needed to get back to his car, and get away before they arrived.
He slipped back down the stairs, the two men were gone, and he noticed a slight variation in the dust on his way down, Aaron was either watching him, or on the move. He wouldn't get far enough away, judging by the way his footsteps in the dust looked.
A fist came out of the shadows, almost catching Caulder off of his guard, but he was ready for it. He ducked out of the way, the man overexerted himself, and fell forward, but caught himself on the door frame. Caulder caught an blow with his forearm, but twisted out of another.
He brought up his own arm, and struck the assailant in the chest, knocking the wind out of him, he brought his other arm up, and clocked him in the jaw. Aaron stumbled back into the light, but he was still able to fight, bringing his fists up for another attack.
Caulder dropped, spinning, almost too fast for Aaron to see, and used his momentum to swing a leg under him. Aaron was knocked off of his feet, and hit the floor. Caulder grabbed his lower leg, and Aaron screamed. He only held on long enough for Aaron to pass out.
He ran out of the building, he was careful enough to have worn gloves, but with the dust, he'd definitely have to buy new shoes, if they came knocking, of course. But he dialed the hotline for an anonymous tip. Left a tip about suspicious activities, maybe a murder, happening in the abandoned apartments. Either way, they'd arrest Aaron for being there, and that would be as long as Caulder would need.
He drove rather quickly back to the streets of Sacred City, and pulled his car off to the side as a string of police cars ran through the street. As soon as they passed, he pulled his cell phone out. He heard a tone, and then Janet answered.
“Caulder?”
“Janet, tell me the girls are safe,”
“They are both here, they're still watching a movie with Ren,” she said. Her tone changed. “What's wrong?”
“I heard some talking, and it sounded like a kidnapping,” he said. “Lock your doors, and shut the blinds.”
She was quiet, and he heard the lock click. “Are you coming over?”
“Janet.”
“Caulder, if things are this serious, I don't feel safe.”
“Sure, but give me a few minutes, and let me make a call.”
“See you in a bit.”
Caulder hung up the phone, and dialed the police department. “Sergeant Holcomb please.”
“One moment.”
Holcomb picked up his phone. “Who is this?”
“It's Reign.”
“What do you need, man?”
“I heard some talk,” Reign said, starting the car. “Has there been a kidnapping in town?”
Caulder heard the clacking of computer keys. “None that have been reported.”
“Well, be on the lookout, and call me if you hear something,” Caulder said. “Send a patrol by Janet's house every hour or so.”
“Caulder, if you need help.”
“Holcomb, please, you know you could lose your job for helping me, but Janet's house may be in danger,” Caulder told him. “Tell them there's suspicious activity.”
“Sure,” Holcomb said. “Good luck in whatever you're doing.”
“Thanks.” Caulder revved the engine, and headed towards Janet's house.

Ten minutes later, he pulled into the driveway. He clicked the button on the garage door opener, which had stayed in the glove compartment. He pulled the car into the place it hadn't been in almost four years.
He knocked on the door, and Janet opened it, she looked slightly panicked, but gave him a quick hug. “The girls are about to go to bed, Ren is out now.”
“Good,” he said, looking around. “Let me run around the house, and make sure it's all alright.”
He walked throughout the house, checking all of the windows, doors, and even locked the garage doors. He shut the porch light off, and walked back to the living room. The girls had just shut the TV. off, and were walking upstairs.
Janet looked at him for a moment. “We need to talk. But before the conversation, I want to tell you a little story: remember the last time you took Camilla and Ren out, you had a lot of fun, right?”
Caulder smiled. “Yeah.”
“He came home with the widest grin, and I almost cried when he asked me, when is daddy coming back.”
He sighed, and rubbed his forehead. “Janet, I...”
“Don't speak, I'll talk and you listen,” she pointed to the couch, and he obeyed, Janet was a scary woman when she wanted to be. She sat down next to him. “I knew, when I married Hank that what happened was bound to happen.”
Caulder sighed.
Janet put her hand on his shoulder. “Six months before he was killed, you and hank got into that shootout, when we thought he wasn't going to wake up.
“I had a couple drinks, and you had taken your medication,” she told him. He remembered the night she was talking about. “We betrayed him, but that gave me something to think about. He died when I was pregnant with Ren, but he never knew.”
“At least he gave you Ren before he was killed,” Caulder said.
“That's what this is about, Caulder. We didn't make love after he got out of the hospital, he couldn't.”
“No, Janet, no.”
“Yes, Caulder.”
Caulder sat in silence, looking at the floor. She rubbed his shoulder. “Do you even remember that night?”
“How couldn't I, that night caused me many sleepless ones, since it happened,” he said, touching her knee. “I loved him like a brother, I feel awful.”
“That doesn't mean we couldn't talk about it, Caulder, it's been four years,” She told him, laying her head on his shoulder. “I knew it would be hard, but not that hard, especially how I feel for you.”
“No,” he said, trying to pull away from her.
She grabbed a handful of his hair, and turned his head towards her. “You ran last time, do you really think it would work a second time?”
“Janet,” he said, grabbing her shoulders. “It almost destroyed me, waking up in your bed.”
“It doesn't have to be that way, Caulder,” She said, almost in tears. “I already told you my dark secret. What do you think it did to me, knowing that, and not telling you?”
Caulder's brain stopped working, there was no way to think his way out of this one. He wanted to slap himself, but Janet pulled him closer, and he had wanted this for so long. When she touched her lips to his, he couldn't help himself.
He stood up, still locked to her. “Come on,” she said, leading him upstairs.
He took one look at the bed, and he started having second thoughts, but she kissed him again, shutting the door behind her. He pulled her blouse off, revealing a laced bra, and her perfect skin. He swallowed as he pulled his shirt off, and flung it on the floor, on hers.
She pulled his belt off as he worked on the button on her jeans. “Are you sure you want to do this,” he asked looking her in the eye.
She pulled his belt from his pants, and looked at him with a feral look in her eyes. “We wouldn't be here if I didn't,” she panted pulling his pants down.
She slid herself out of her jeans, and her panties once he unbuttoned them. He pushed her down on the bed, kissing her as he did so. “Do you think we need-”
“Don't worry about it, I'm covered,” she said.

Janet woke up, Caulder's arm as a pillow. She stared at him for several minutes, his honey colored hair hung beautifully over his face. She hadn't known how much she missed him until that moment, waking up next to him.
She rubbed his chest, the muscles visible, as well as the two scars on his left shoulder, and the long line down his right arm. She ran her finger down it, and watched his arm tense up.

Impressum

Texte: story by R.W. Ringwald II
Tag der Veröffentlichung: 22.12.2011

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