The Reflection

Untitled Part 8

                                                                               Change Direction

Soborno and Richards knew that if they could not connect the dots between the four deceased and one mysterious woman, who in some way had a vendetta against one of or all of them, then almost five weeks of intense investigations, never mind the travel expenses, their guns and badges would be laid side by side on Molly Maguire's desk and a minimum of a six month unpaid suspension would follow. "This is fucked up" said Rusty Richards. "Who the fuck is she. All this time we've been going in the wrong direction. So our suspect now is a female, a female who was acquainted with as we know , one or all of the deceased but someone who even more so had access to the property. So who do we have, one, Melissa Taylors Mother, It can't be her she is in her late sixties and besides she walks with a stick. two, the maid, Oriana Morales, she is the right looking age and has worked there since they purchased the property four years ago. The cancellation of Miss Morales is the fact that she is only five feet tall and two hundred pounds. Miss Taylor had a private secretary Karen Bishop, she may have had a personal gripe with her employer but why kill the other three?                                                                                                                         Soborno stepped in, "We need the findings of the speech specialist Rusty" he said, "The killer spoke to them before the shootings although we will never know what was said as (a) the killer had her back to the camera and (b) as we now know it was not Theo Taylor then the killer was wearing a mask but Jason Barstow shouted something at the shooter just before he died. What he said is what we need to know. Speak to the speech guy at the University, find out what he gets from the video"                                                                                                                                                              Meanwhile Maria Martinez, with as Mike Soborno say's, the speech impediment was back on board. Her task through her knowledge of computers was to scroll through all of the evidence trying to link one woman to even just two of the victims. "Take as long as it takes" said Mike Soborno, "I am at this moment ruling out Melissa Taylor, as far as Rusty and myself are concerned she was not the target, she was in the right place at the wrong time. As for the other three they have almost certainly crossed paths, it is up to you Martinez to find out where or why, I am counting on you"                                                                                                                                                            "Mike, the results are back" said an excited sounding Rusty Richards tearing open a large brown envelope. "Ok, said Soborno, "Calm down, what the fuck does it say? "Jason Bastow is saying to his killer. "Georgie, we can talk about this"                                                                                                                   "Georgie we can talk about this, Georgie we can talk about this" Mike Soborno repeated these words at least twenty times. They had a name, a name that at this time meant nothing to them but in his mind it meant something to all three victims. They passed it on to Detective Martinez.      Soborno and Richards had work to do, they had been contacted by the mother of Melissa Taylor from her home in Augusta, Georgia where she now lived with her second husband following the death of Melissa's father in a boating accident three years previous. She said that she had something to show them that had gone from her memory, but in the passed few days had come to light. They took the 7am flight from Palm Springs for the four hour flight to Augusta International, arriving on time at 11am. As they departed the arrivals, they could see an African American Gentleman smiling and holding a board with the ridiculous words, "Welcome to Augusta Detectives" His name was Reginald Boatang, the friendliest person either Detective had ever met, but through discussions he knew very little about his deceased step daughter. Their home was in a Gated Community not far from the famous Augusta National Golf Course. The mother was friendly and welcoming. They had met briefly at her daughters funeral but no questions had been asked. Coffee or Tea and sandwiches were already laid out on a Patio to the rear of the building. "This is very nice, thank you Mrs Boatang" said Detective Soborno, "You said you have something of importance to show us? "Well it may or may not be" she answered, "Eat up your sandwiches and I will fetch what I have found"                                                                                        Twenty minutes later the Table was cleared and a large photograph album was placed on the table. "Now" she said, "I was looking through this album and came across this photograph from, it tells me on the back, two and a half years ago" Both Detectives stared at the picture. It was Theo and Melissa at a fancy dress party with it would seem many others. "Is there someone in the picture you think we should be questioning? asked Rusty Richards. "No not at all"answered Constance Boatang. "It's Theo and Melissa they are dressed as each other, great costumes don't you think" "Let me understand" said Soborno, "This one is Theo and that one is your daughter" "Correct" was the reply. "They don't look as if they are wearing masks" said Rusty Richards. "Only costumes" "Amazing isn't it" she answered, "Now let me explain. Melissa worked in the Movie industry and not always in the ones that you would associate her with, she was actually well connected. This was a birthday party for Theo and Melissa had the Idea of them dressing up as each other, but she wanted to take it a step further and recruited an old friend who worked for Disney in the Puppet Creating Department. He made casts of both of their faces and created two identical flexible masks. Now I don't think that my ex son- in- law is guilty of killing my Daughter he is just too nice a man to be a killer, but someone wearing his mask would I imagine in a mirror look just like him. What do you think?                                                                                                         Soborno and Richards were stunned and trying very hard to keep their composure and hide their embarrassment. "Can we take the Photograph with us? asked Soborno. "I am sure going forward, it could be a great help"                                                                                                                                     "By all means, you are welcome" said Constance Boatang, "Now Reginald drive the Detectives back to the Airport it is a long flight home"                                                                                                                On the flight back to Palm Springs in-between drinks they just stared at the picture. "This is major" said Soborno, "We now know that (a) Theo Taylor is innocent, (b) our killer is a female with knowledge of this costume, and (c) her name or nick name is Georgie. Game on"