It's been awhile since anything big has happened in my small rural town. You'd think that if you worked with law enforcement and detective agencies you'd see a lot of action like big cartel busts or crazed-serial killer cases. That was definitely why I wanted to be in it. Sadly in my small town, Calexico, all the real action is one or two drug busts every few months or so. A cat stuck in a tree makes headlines here. It's the same shitty routine for me every day. Wake up, shower, eat breakfast, give my girlfriend a kiss on the head before I depart for work, and tell my son Jonathan to have a good day at school. He's in the third grade. I get to my office, sit down on my black, leather chair, and wait for the time to pass, hoping a good case comes in. Nothing.
As the work day ends, I pack up my briefcase, stuff it in the truck of my little gray Toyota, and drive off. I get home to my girlfriend already cooking dinner and my son doing his homework on the kitchen table. Elaine, my girlfriend, gives me a kiss and asks how my day went. I give her the usual bullshit response 'it was great'. I get comfortable on the couch and turn on the T.V after Jonathan's finished his homework to play both of our favorite game Super Smash Bros. Brawl. We just love getting competitive over that game. We sit down to dinner and have long conversations of different subjects like stuff about my high school years or how Jonathan's day was. Stuff like that. Once dinner is finished, we all wash up, and go to bed. I think you get the picture now. Same routine every fucking day.
Today, I did my usual daily morning routine. I got to the office at about 9:30. I sat down on my black, leather chair in my cubicle, picked up my cup of coffee, and began the day. However, my assistant Alan just abruptly came in with all these boxes and folders.
'Alan, what the hell is all this? Did your wife kick you out or something?' I said jokingly.
'Haha, screw you man, I was just told to bring this case file to you' Alan said,'apparently, no one wants this case. You're lucky day I could say, it seems like a big case.'
'Wow that's a lot of shit I need to get to. No wonder no one wants this. Well thanks man, I'll get to it then.' I said.
'No problem.' Alan said just as he left.
I picked up the folders first to see what I was dealing with. To my surprise, I saw that I just picked up a murder case. 12 year old, Sasha Galindo found dead in abandoned warehouse. Just seeing the title of the case made me sick. Just as any parent would I thought of my little Jonathan. That could have easily been him. Thank God it wasn't.
I went through the folder and found some crime scene photos. There were pictures of the walls all covered in poor Sasha's blood. The picture of the body was sickening. Her face had been removed. According to the report, the face had not been found, but DNA and hair tests proved it was Sasha. I found the coroners report; in it, it said the face was surgically, and symmetrically removed, almost as if a professional plastic surgeon had done it. As I started looking through the crates, I came upon the interview some detective had with the parents. I took the recorder out and played it:
'November 14, 2012: Case of Sasha Galindo and her murder'
The detective began talking.
'Mr. and Mrs. Galindo, if I may, I would like to ask a few questions about your daughter, Sasha.' said the detective.
'Yes,' said Mrs. Galindo,'We'll answer any questions to help. By all means.'
'Thank you. First, when did you find out your daughter was missing?' asked the detective.
'The night before she died,' said Mr. Galindo,'she had gone missing.'
'We're the police notified and we're you with or without her when she was abducted?'
'Yes,' said Mrs. Galindo,'we immediately called 911. We had just finished dinner and she took a shower and went to bed. I heard a loud knocking noise in her room, so I went to go check on her, but as I turned on the light, I noticed she wasn't in her bed. I screamed and my husband searched the whole house, even the whole neighborhood for her as I called 911. The officer came by, but told us there was no sign of forced entry or break in, so he to investigate the whole premises.'
'She never turned up.' Mr. Galindo added.
'I see', the detective said.
'We were taken into the station to get ourselves cleared,' said Mrs. Galindo now tearing up,'I still remember the last words she said to me. She told me she loved me and that she would see us in the mornin-'. Mrs. Galindo broke into tears.
'If it's alright officer,' said Mr. Galindo softly,'I'll answer any further questions. I don't want to put my wife through so much that she can't handle.'
'Very well,' said the detective,' I understand. I have one more question.'
'Yes, anything.' said Mr. Galindo.
'There was a, um, note next to your daughters body the night we found her,' said the detective,'we don't have any leads to whom it is addressed to, but luckily it was hand-written. We'd like to show you to see if you could identify the writing.'
'Yes,' Mr. Galindo said coldly, and shocked,'I definitely recognize this writing.. oh my..'
'What,' asked the detective,'who's is it?'
'It's hers,' said Mr. Galindo,'it's Sasha's writing.'
The tape ended with a loud screech, and then silence. I guess it was a faulty recorder. They need to fix these damn things. I found the note in a sheet protector. As I read it, I got cold shivers running up the hairs in the back of my neck, and I felt my stomach drop. The letter said this:
'17 he needs, 17 is all. All children, all must be children. The children have it all. What they use to see, what they use to eat, what they use to smell, that's what he needs. And I shall give it to him. This is ONE.'
I packed up immediately that day and went home. I drove home just thinking too much. What could this mean? Why would a little girl write this? Did she even write this? I started thinking of Jonathan. I would give my life for that boy. Whoever this psychopath is, he won't get to my family.
As I got home, I was so happy to see my family. More than I had ever been in my life.
'I think Jonathan might have a new friend,' Elaine told me smiling as I entered the house,'he's been talking to someone he says he calls Cesar. Haha, it's so cute.'
'Oh wow, let's maybe see if we can get to know this 'Cesar'.'
'Hi dad!', said Jonathan as he ran up to me giving me a big hug.
'Hey there kid,' I said,'how was your day? I heard you made a new friend.'
'Yeah,' he said,'his name is Cesar.'
'Do you think I could get to meet Cesar?', I asked.
'Mm, I don't know, he doesn't really like grown-ups, but I'll tell him about you and all the cool stuff you do and maybe he will wanna meet you cause you're the best dad in the world!', Jonathan said.
'Haha', I chuckled,'well you tell him all that stuff later cause you need to get washed up for dinner.'
'Okay.' Jonathan said, then eagerly ran up the hall to the bathroom.
'Our kid is really creative, huh?' Elaine said.
'Yeah,' I said,'hey listen, I got a case about a murder.' I said to Elaine.
'Oooh, too scared or what huh?' Elaine teased.
'Ha, no just I don't want Jonathan getting into the stuff so the work room needs to be off limits to him.' I said with a smile.
'Will do,' said Elaine. She gave me a sweet, passionate kiss after.
We all sat down for dinner, and quickly got ready for bed. I couldn't shake off of what happened today. That case was just unbelievable. It was midnight. We were all in bed. A loud stomping awoke Elaine and I.
'Damn kid what's he doing up this late?' I said.
'Calm down, Christian', Elaine said,'he's probably just playing with Cesar.'
'Oh yeah,' I said chuckling,'I'll go check on him.'
I got out of bed and went into his room. He was fast asleep. 'Huh,' I thought,'that's a bit weird.'
'He's in his bed fast asleep.' I told Elaine.
'Maybe the neighbors are just getting it on tonight', Elaine said jokingly. 'At least someone is getting some,' I said,'but I could have sworn it was in the living room'
'Just ignore it,' said Elaine,' and get some sleep.'
We both fell asleep....
'What's that,' Jonathan asked to something in the emptiness, 'I don't know what you mean by 15 left Cesar, go to sleep, and stop running in the halls, you're wake my parents up.'