PRESS PLAY

Chapter One

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The day Hailey Rolland entered the police station was a busy time. Detective Green remembered it clearly. A local robbery, a domestic disturbance, a suicide—a woman claiming she had murdered when the victim turned out to be her late gold fish, which she flushed down the toilet. It was frustrating, and Detective Green’s attention had to be directed towards last week’s reports, which had somehow gotten lost in a mix up. He was in a bad mood, grumpy, irritated, so when a young woman entered the station claiming some absurd tale the detective was understandable irritated with her from distracting him from his duties. It was protocol to listen, so he took her into a questioning room to hear her story, although his mind was on the reports stacked neatly upon his desk.

            “You claim you know the whereabouts of a wanted criminal?” Detective Green had asked skeptically. His mind flashed to all the TV teenage dramas where young girls did ridiculous things to gain attention. She quirked her head to the side from across the table, her long strawberry blond hair falling like liquid gold onto her left shoulder. She didn’t look afraid, or spooked, or even remotely like someone who had stumbled upon a murderer.

            “No, sir. I don’t believe I wrote that.” The detective felt a flash of irritation, but when he looked down at the table, where the report she filed lay open and exposed, he realized she indeed hadn’t written that. He cleared his throat, uncomfortably.

            “You claim you’ve been in contact with Jason Galleretta.” He blinked again down at the name. Jason Galleretta. The name sent a shudder down his spine so violent he was sure that she saw it. “I’m very sorry, miss… but I find it difficult to believe Jason Galleretta would be in contact with…” With what? He struggled to find the words to describe his skeptically. Jason Galleretta was debatably the most wanted man in the world. With over sixteen murders under his name, twenty-two major bank robberies, and a rather new lead, which suggested he was involved in Russian weapon smuggling. He was young too, the man was only twenty-four, and was possibly the most dangerous person Detective Green knew of. Jason Galleretta was a criminal genius, why would he ever leave a loose end like this girl able to speak information? He wouldn’t, the detective had decided, which left only one option. The girl was lying.

            Now, looking back, one of his biggest regrets was leading Hailey Rolland out of the police department. If only he had listened. If only he had believed her.

She hadn’t seemed upset. In fact, she almost looked relieved.

            Hailey Rolland went missing a week later. Detective Green was on call—he was the one who responded to the missing persons report. Hailey had been almost twenty, and her apartment was a wreck. A window was broken, tables overturned. She had been cooking soup when her attacker entered; the food was now all over the floor. Four neatly chopped carrots on a wooden cutting board next to the stove, ready to be dropped into the soup.

Hailey Rolland’s favorite color was green; she had a puppy and was applying to a job at a local company in town. On her message machine was a message from a friend, asking if she wanted to go to the movies. Detective Green felt sick, even sicker when he made his way out to her garage, which was converted to an art studio of sorts. Huge canvases hung from every corner. Many of them were beautiful landscapes of the ocean coast, some portraits of people he recognized as family, young neighbors, her dog. And then, as he made his way carefully towards the back, dodging between magnificent paintings balanced on easels, Detective Green stopped in his tracts. Because in the back, hidden behind a sheet, were four paintings of Jason Galleretta.

            Each one was different, a different pose, a different activity. The detective had only ever seen one mug shot of Jason, one that was taken when he was eighteen—his first and last arrest. All other pictures were blurred and nearly indistinguishable.