Charlotte was one of the youngest that we found, she couldn't have been more than 7. She was out in the middle of nowhere, her tiny body dumped in a condemned lake shack that nobody had used for almost 15 years. I still remember the conversation I had with her parents...
"Mister and Missus Douglass, I'm so sorry to inform you that when we did find Charlotte, she was..." I took a deep breath looked, at the terrified parents, and rested my hand on the doorframe. Mary, Charlotte's mother was clutching onto her husband, Luke tightly, he rested his hand on her pregnant belly in anticipation.
"Unfortunately Charlotte was deceased when we found her" I reached behind me into my bag and pulled out a large plastic evidence bag with Charlotte's belongings that were found on her person. A small brown teddy bear with a blue bow around its neck, on its feet, were the words "from S & C, your biggest brothers and your biggest fans", a heart-shaped locket with a photo of the three of them plus teenage-looking twin boys, and a light pink backpack with school supplies inside.
"NO" Mary fell to her knees bawling, Luke and I gently lifted her off the ground and inside onto the sofa. Once there she just sat there sobbing, I slowly handed her some tissues and she tried to smile at me to say thank you, but could only let out a weak whimper of defeat. Luke's hands started shaking and tears welled in his eyes
"D-do you know... who did it?" Luke cleared his throat trying to put on a brave face for his wife
"Please Mister Douglass, please take a seat" I looked at the both of them caringly
"You can call me Luke..." he sighed as he sat next to Mary, she leaned into him, tissues in hand, and cried into his neck.
"Luke... Mary... We do know who it is that did this... we call him 'The painter' or 'painter' for short and unfortunately Charlotte is not his first victim" I slowly sat down on the pouf across from them, pulled out a manilla envelope, and laid it on the coffee table.
As I laid out the photos of the crime scene, I studied their faces silently to see if it was familiar to them. An empty deserted shack, the river, the mountains, the forest, and finally showed the painting that was found on top of the deceased girl's body.
Mary slowly lifted her head to look at the images.
"Th-that... That's my family's old lake house" she stuttered and looked from Luke to me and back to the photo "W-we got married th-there" she yelped as she pointed to the treeline above the shack
"Does that mean the killer is someone we know?" Luke asked, gently rubbing his wife's belly "I mean it can't just be a coincidence that it's a place from our past"
"It's a possibility, yes. Can you tell me again about when Charlotte disappeared?"
Mary shifted in place and sniffled, dabbing her eyes with the tissue "It was a month ago, we were waiting with her at the bus stop so she could go to school... her teachers called and said she never made it to class but they saw the bus driver drop her off" she hiccupped.
Luke walked outside through the side door with a cigarette between his teeth, he had lost the color on his face as he shook uncontrollably
"We're good parents" he blurted out as he lit his smoke
"I'm sorry?" I asked
"We taught her all about 'stranger danger' and not to go with anyone who didn't know our code" he sniffled "She was never allowed to leave school without her brothers, they had football practice that morning so they had to be there early... otherwise they would have gone with Charlotte and walked her to class like always"
"Code?"
"Yes... Luke and I started teaching Charlotte not to go with anyone who didn't know our code... it was 'marigold' because it was her favorite flower and her middle name" Mary leaned down slowly and opened the drawer to the coffee table, pulling out a safety booklet with everything a parent could ever need to protect their kids, all in Mary and Luke's handwriting.
"Luke, Mary there is no doubt in your parenting skills here-"
"-BULLSHIT!" Luke snapped as he punched the door. The wood splintered around the point of impact and his knuckles started bleeding
Mary stood up quickly and held her stomach
"Luke!"
"NO! THIS IS HOW THIS SHIT GOES!" he spun to face me. I quickly got up in case he decided to swing
"THE PARENTS ARE ALWAYS THE FIRST ONES BLAMMED WHEN THEIR KID GOES MISSING" he started marching toward me and that's when the stench hit me. I didn't know how I missed it before but he reeked of alcohol
"WE ARE GOOD FUCKING PARENTS! WE TAUGHT HER SO MUCH SAFETY SHIT YET SOME DICKLESS FUCK STILL TOOK HER"
Luke was getting closer, Mary stood between Luke and me in an attempt to calm him down. He shoved her to the side and she landed hard on the marble ground. I held my hand out a little to try and keep the distance between us as I used my other hand to slowly reach for my taser.
"Mister Douglass. You need to calm down, nobody is blaming you for any of this" I looked from him to Mary as I slowly backed up, she was fine except for a bleeding lip. "You're drunk, none of this is your fault"
"LIAR!" he screamed, tears starting to roll down his cheeks "EVERYONE THINKS WE ARE SHIT PARENTS! THE SCHOOL, THE CHURCH, EVEN LAKESHORE PD! I TRIED TO KEEP HER SAFE! SHE WAS MY WORLD! EVERYONE THINKS I CAN'T HEAR THEM WHISPERING ABOUT HOW WE SHOULD'VE TAKEN HER TO SCHOOL OURSELVES"
I wrapped my hand around my taser as he inched closer. With each step and every yell, my grip tightened around it
"Luke... honey, please nobody thinks that about us" Mary had managed to get to her feet and stood behind Luke, in my sightline. Luke turned to her with his fists clenched
"My love you need to calm down. None of this is your fault"
I pulled my taser out and pointed it at Luke's back, but as I was about to fire his hands relaxed and he slowly walked toward his wife before falling to his knees sobbing. Mary sat on the pouf and laid his head against her stomach. It was like Luke completely changed and he became a gentle giant as he gently wrapped his arms around his wife and cradled their unborn baby.
"I just wanted to keep her safe" he hiccuped
"He didn't mean to scare you or hurt me... he's just very emotional at the moment" Mary looked at me reassuringly and I put my taser back into the holster, slowly dropping my arms at my side, still on alert just in case. "I promise you, he never hurts me. He's been stress drinking, this is the first time he's ever laid a hand on me, even when drunk"
My posture softened as she stroked his hair. This big tough man was laying his head on his wife's pregnant belly and crying because he just wants his daughter
"I'm a good dad..." he sobbed
"Shhhh... I know you are sweetie" Mary leaned down and kissed the top of his head.
"Mary... Lakeshore PD can provide some excellent resources that I can refer you both to, they often deal with the loss of children," I said gently as I crouched next to them, I tried to stay professional but could feel tears burning my eyes, I could barely speak over the lump in my throat.
Suddenly the front door opened and the two identical teenage-looking boys from Charlotte's locket walked in covered in dirt and wearing football jerseys, laughing and nudging each other until they saw me and their parents
"Mom? Dad? What's going on?" asked the one with green eyes
"Who's this lady cop?" asked the other, curiosity shining through his brown eyes
"Sam..." Mary said gently looking at the first boy "Carter..." she said to the second "This is Detective Briar"
"She's here with... news about your little sister" Luke added choking back tears.
YOU ARE READING
Happy little accidents
Mystery / ThrillerDetective Kennedy Briar of Lakeshore PD has been looking into the long history of an artistic serial killer, known as "The Painter" someone she didn't know was a very big part of her life. Speaking with multiple shrinks she comes to realize that her...
