Baggage

Chapter 2

"Girls. Come downstairs. It's time for dinner!" David stood at the foot of the stairs and yelled at his daughters to come downstairs for dinner. It was 7:35pm as he walked back to the dining area, he checked his cellphone to see if his wife Stacy had texted him. He dialed her number but the phone rang without an answer. "Is that mommy daddy?" Marisa, the youngest of the two asked as she climbed into her chair. Her bright blue eyes twinkled as she waited on David to reply. "Well dear. Seems like mommy is still in that meeting. I'll try and call her back before bedtime." "Yeah right! Some meeting if you ask me!" exclaimed Zoe as she pulled out her chair around the dining table and tucked her hair back in a ponytail and began to eat. Zoe was near puberty and didn't believe what her dad was telling her younger sister. "Zoe! Watch your mouth!" David yelled across the table while slamming his fist on the table, causing the glass of water to spill all over Marisa. "Daddy! I'm all wet now!" David got up in an attempt to assist Marisa to her room when suddenly his phone rang. It was his wife Stacy. "Excuse me a bit girls. Zoe, help your sister to a clean top." Zoe rolled her eyes at her dad. "Yup! I got it! I'm only twelve and I seem to be the only level headed one around here. I might as well take Marisa and raise her as my own child." Marisa tagged along behind Zoe to her room.
"Stacy! Where have you been? Why weren't you answering my calls? You said you would have been home three days ago! I had to call out of work again to watch the girls and you are..." He was cut off by Stacy who was now crying on the other line. "David, I don't even know where to begin. I am sorry but I couldn't answer your calls. Jessica had me handling some things with one of the clients. I can't say much about it David. Jessica doesn't like me talking about work with you. Just know that this case is our biggest one yet!" David sat at the foot of the stairway with his hand over his head and listened to Stacy. Zoe tiptoed at the top of the stairs and stooped behind the rails eavesdropping on her parents' conversation. "Hun, please be careful. I've warned you about taking that job as Jessica's assistant. Representing criminals is not an easy task but you never listen. You are always..." David was cut off again by Stacy. "Babe, I gotta go! Give the girls my love. I'll see you in a week. I love you." Stacy ended the call without giving David a chance to respond.
"Damn it! Everytime!" David threw his phone down beside him with a rage of anger as he sat there with his head between his legs and his hands on top of his head. His mind was rushing with thoughts of what his wife and Jessica had done now and why they needed another week away. He kept trying to put pieces together to find out who they were now representing but he was at a roadblock. David yelled to Zoe upstairs to take her sister back down and finish their dinner.
It was now 9 pm as David tucked Marisa in bed and kissed her on the forehead. He went over to Zoe's room and gently knocked on her door before entering. Zoe was under the covers with her AirPods plugged in while texting on her cellphone. David sat at the foot of her bed and Zoe pulled her legs towards her and sighed heavily. "Zoe, I know you are angry at me for not spending as much time with you as I do with Marisa but you know I love you. I love you both and I'm doing my best now that mommy is away on a business trip." Zoe looked up at David and pulled one of her AirPods from her ear. "Business trip? That's what we are calling it? I heard you and mom on the phone dad! Doesn't sound like a business trip to me." Zoe rolled her eyes and pulled the next AirPod from her ear and rested her phone beside her. "I'm not a child daddy. You don't have to keep lying about mommy's whereabouts. I know she's probably in some other state with Aunty Jessica fixing business for some nasty low life criminal! I know what criminal lawyers do daddy. Stop lying to me!"
David scratched his head in awe at the fact that his little Zoe was no longer the baby girl he knew and she was smarter than he thought. "Zoe, I don't mean to lie. I'm only trying to protect you and Marisa. Mommy will be back in a week. I'll have to go back to work tomorrow, so I'll have to call the sitter." Zoe nodded and placed her AirPod back in her ears while David kissed her goodnight and left her room.
David, being back in his study, started to search through Stacy's desk for answers. He paced back and forth searching through cabinets, folders and envelopes for anything that would tell him where Stacy and Jessica might be and which criminal they were now representing.
David knew that the last time Stacy and Jessica went underground while working on a case, it almost cost him his job and he now knows that he would have to be very careful with his decisions.
While going through Stacy's files on her desktop, David noticed a zipped folder labeled Case #0502 - Fredrick Daniels (Important). David clicked on the folder and to his surprise there was a picture of Freddie D, New York's most wanted serial killer. Freddie D was known for his signature style of cutting his victims into pieces, then stuffing them into suitcases and shipping them to his next victim. Freddie D has been a serial killer for seven years and was said to carry out his killings in the months of January, June and July. No one knew what led him to killing nor why he only killed during those three months. It was always a mystery as to how Freddie D got the suitcases delivered to his next victim because he was said to only kill at nights and the postal services that usually deliver the suitcases are closed at nights.
David's jaws dropped when he saw the picture. What was his wife doing with a folder on Freddie D? David leaned in and delved into the folder. He clicked on a word document that said letter, zoomed in on the attached picture of a hand written letter and began to read.

Hello Jessica,
It's Freddie D. As you know, we are in the month of June and I have business to do. I've three kills scheduled for this month and again I'll need the help of you and your beautiful assistant Stacy. You know how we roll. You help me, and I won't kill you. The first kill will be on June 5th in the Bronx. I'll need you to pick up the baggage at Claremont Park at 11pm. It will be left on the 3rd stall of the female bathroom. I need this to be delivered to Steven Shepard on the 24th floor of the New York Tower on the 9th of June using UPS. Don't mess up this one or the next baggage will be of someone you love. Be safe now my little dove.
Freddie D

David was astonished. His heart raced while he read the letter. He wiped his face with his hands and nervously opened the other three files within the folder. Shaking like a leaf, he wrote down the address of Steven Shepard and began to google him. To his luck, he found Steven online listed as one of New York's finest stockbrokers.
It was now midnight and June 6th and David was racing against the clock, hoping that the baggage was not yet delivered to Steven as he dialed the number he got online. In the thrill of saving someone's life, David remembered a critical part of David's letter - warning Jessica and Stacy not to mess up. David erased the numbers from his dial pad and shut down the computer monitor and burst into tears. How would he save a complete stranger without putting his wife and Jessica in danger. He started to get angry. He had warned Stacy about working with Jessica. He moved around the study and started throwing and kicking everything in his path. David needed to find a way of saving Steven Shepard, Jessica and his wife whilst bringing down New York's most wanted serial killer.
The following morning David woke with a plan. David knew he had to go back to his old life of crime in order to accomplish his plan. He called up his sitter and arranged for her to spend the week with the girls. He called Marisa and Zoe into the kitchen after getting off the call with the sitter. "Girls. I'm very sorry but daddy will have to go into the city to get mommy." "Why? What's wrong with mommy daddy?" asked Marisa while staring at him with her deep blue eyes. David glanced at Zoe just in time to see her rolling her eyes. He knew Zoe would roll her eyes whenever she suspected him or Stacy to be lying. "Well Marisa, mommy needs my help with something and I have to go. Ali will be coming over shortly and she'll be here with you girls for the week." Zoe rolled her eyes once more and grumbled under her breath then walked off. David kissed Marisa's forehead and went back to his room.
David entered the code to his safe and turned the knob then opened the huge stainless steel door. He was left flabbergasted. Half of his cash was gone! He knew it had to be Stacy under Jessica's influence. He had no time to waste or worry over the missing funds. He grabbed three stacks of $100 bills, his fake passport, driver's license, a burner phone and his colt mustang XSP and placed them in his bag. David dialed Stacy once more but it was to no success. It was clear that Stacy's phone was off. David went back downstairs where he greeted Ali the sitter and kissed and hugged his girls then rushed out the front door.
While sitting his his car, David made one last call to his old friend and long time partner Johnny Adams. "Hey Johnny. It's been a while. I've got some baggage and I need your help".