antoh3rnde - Tumblr blog

antoh3rnde · 1 year ago

Text

Chapter 1

September 6, 1996 - Quinn

That morning, I couldn't tell if I was scared or just excited. All I could think about was making a good first impression; otherwise, I would never be taken seriously.

I was entering the Blue Whale, the old well known diner in town, near the coast. Me and the guy who had called me, agreed to meet there to discuss the case he needed to entrust to me, in person.

My first real case. During my apprenticeship with Scott, my mentor, I had only solved small cases, an arson and a man cheating on his wife, and even then, not alone. However, when this guy, a certain Chase Coleman, had called me, I had immediately felt that this case would mark a turning point in my career, now that I had finally managed to get to open my little private investigative agency.

I composed myself, trying not to show my anxiety, tucking a small blonde strand that had escaped my low ponytail behind my ear. I took a deep breath and, with trembling hands, pushed open the door of the Blue Whale.

It wasn't the first time I had entered that diner, and I knew it wasn't a very crowded place. It wasn't that day either, so it wasn't difficult to spot my appointment: a guy sitting alone at one of the tables in the back, looking around a bit. So, with a determined step, I approached the table.

"Hello... you must be Mr. Coleman?" I said, standing next to the table.

"Yes, you must be Detective Becker. Just call me Chase," said the guy, standing up and offering me his hand in a friendly manner.

He didn't seem too strange, just extremely messed up. Overall, he was quite handsome, with brown hair and bottle-green eyes, and he seemed to be about my age. It was evident that he was exhausted from life; he had clearly tried to clean himself up, dressing well and shaving his beard, but the dark circles under his eyes betrayed him. He wasn't much taller than me, and even though he wore a fairly loose sweatshirt, it was clear how skinny he was.

"Very well, Chase. It's a pleasure to meet you," I said, sitting across from him after shaking his hand. The waitress arrived, the same one for years, and we both ordered a coffee; while waiting, I took the opportunity to take out my recorder and insert the empty tape.

"So, on the phone, you were very vague. Explain to me in detail why you called me."

"Alright, I'll get straight to the point. But you must take me seriously because no one ever has, and I swear I'm not crazy. Okay?"

At that moment, I started to wonder if my hunch had been wrong, and if the handsome guy in front of me was actually just paranoid. After all, Scott had told me that in this job you deal with a lot of strange people.

"Sure, let's hear it."

Chase leaned toward me, over the table, so he wouldn't be heard by others.

"I think my father is a murderer." Amazing, he’s mad.

I cleared my throat.

"Would you mind explaining?"

"Do you remember the Oregon Ripper, between '85 and '86? The sixteen children who died?"

Oh God, a conspiracy theorist.

"Where are you going with this? The killer was caught."

I have to admit I felt a bit guilty. Clearly, he was struggling, Chase's hands were trembling around the coffee cup, and my not-so-gentle questions were not helping at all.

"Let me explain. I believe some of the children were killed by my father, even though the murders were still attributed to the Ripper."

"Okay, but why would he have done it? What do you think the motive is?"

I saw Chase swallow, taking a deep breath and a sip of coffee.

"I'll be honest with you, it's not a topic I like to talk about, so bear with me." He admitted, leaning back against the worn leather of the diner booth. I nodded and tried to give him a small smile to encourage him and maybe help him a bit; although I think I failed miserably.

"When I was little, about thirteen, one summer for my little sister's birthday, Charlotte, my mom took us to the public pool. All of us, me, her, Charlie, and my dad," he said, smiling with bitterness.

"In the afternoon, my dad and mom left to go to the bar, asking me to watch Charlotte, who was still just a child of barely six, while she was in the pool. Like many kids, I was a bit of a rebel and had no desire to be there."

Tears started to form in Chase's eyes, he tried to hold back a sob, unsuccessfully, and I have to admit, I felt a bit like a jerk.

Technically, the rules of the job forbade me from forming any emotional attachment with my clients, and I cared a lot about making a good impression, but I cared even more about being a good person. So I threw professionalism out the window and reached across the table to hold his hand, squeezing it slightly.

"Of course, I didn't listen to them and put on my headphones. My... my sister drowned that day, and I will never forgive myself."

At that moment, I wished I had something more to say than "I'm sorry, Chase"; but I had never been very good at comforting people. Moreover, I had to respect the professional boundary, so I just held his hand and offered him a tissue, which he declined.

Chase caught his breath, wiped away the tears with the back of his hand, and continued his story, while I unconsciously held my breath.

"My dad changed after the incident. He wasn't the same anymore, and the people closest to him noticed. I noticed. He was irritable, grumpy, spent hours locked in his office, and avoided me like the plague. When we were at the table together, he always looked at me with hatred and contempt, and I... well, it wasn't easy."

"So you believe your father went crazy and killed some children who were then attributed to the Ripper?" I asked, starting to think and letting go of the young man's hand.

"Not exactly." Chase had somewhat recovered and was back to being the confident guy I had shaken hands with half an hour earlier.

"I think my father certainly went mad, but he planned everything in detail to avoid being caught. I believe he took advantage of the murders to unleash his madness."

I nodded, taking a sip of coffee. I started to think. Maybe accepting the case was madness. Maybe I would never be able to solve it. Maybe the guy in front of me was just delusional. I looked up and saw Chase: his eyes were still wet, and he was clearly thinking the same things I was. He recognized that he seemed like a desperate person who couldn't accept his sister's death after years, and maybe it would have been rational for me to think the same, but something inside me made me accept.

"I imagine you want to decline the case at this point. I understand, I-"

"I accept the case."

#chapter 1 #new chapter #thriller #romance #murder mystery #mistery #suspance #detective #investigation #private investigator #oregon #1990s

1 note · View note