Revelations 12 Page 9

  “I know what you mean, but we don’t have a choice. You know, Robert; I’m trying to look at this objectively. The strongest evidence, the prints on the knife and window, don’t match Holman. However, the hair analysis almost certainly does. On one hand, Julia knew no one capable of doing something like this, but on the other hand Amos says murders are almost always committed by someone the victim knows. Not to mention, we still have Dr Brookman to find, along with the mystery behind the knife that was used.”

  “Beth, don’t you go having doubts. We both know exactly who did this. There is no one else it could be. Now, just dismiss any doubts in your mind. We are going after Holman and we will get justice for Julia. Anyway, Beth, that was Amos on the phone earlier on. He wants to meet us at the bar tomorrow to discuss the meeting they had with the judge.”

  “Did he indicate how it went?”

  “No. He did not say much. He was very matter of fact and told me he will discuss it in detail tomorrow.”

  *

  Martha and Simon were on their way home following a trip into town.

  “You’re joking right? Tell me, Simon J Holman that you’re not serious?”

  “No, Mom. I’m very serious.”

  “Are you really asking me to teach you to drive, after all you have said about this car over the years?”

  “Yes. I went down to the centre and got my learner’s permit, who else is going to teach me? I can’t afford lessons.”

  “Okay, so let’s say I teach you to drive and you get your license, exactly what car are you planning to drive?”

  “Well, until I can afford my own, I was thinking this thing.”

  “Really! This thing?”

  “This car, Mom.”

  “That’s a bit better, but I’ll tell you now: I’m thinking of getting a job, so if I need the car, I don’t want to hear a moan out of you. If I don’t need it, then you’re welcome to use it – deal?”

  “Okay, Mom. Fair enough. Where are you thinking of working?”

  “I’m not sure. I’d like to learn about computers and brush up on my typing, then see from there. I’m going to the library next week. They have some computers I can use for free. I’ve also seen a few adds in the papers, advertising for temporary secretaries, so I’ll give it a go.”

  “Best of luck with that, Mom. You would be a great secretary, and I appreciate the sacrifice you’re making.”

  “Teaching you to drive is no sacrifice. I’m happy to do it.”

  “No, Mom. Going out to work. You’re doing it to help with my university expenses. I know you are, but you don’t have to. I plan to get a job each summer and it will help to pay for it. In that way, I won’t have that much left to pay off when I graduate.”

  “No, son. That is not the only reason I’m getting a job. I’d like to meet new people, have some responsibility. Yes, a bit of extra money coming in will also be good. Anyway, Simon, let’s run inside quickly; this rain is going to get worse.”

  *

  Martha put her handbag and keys on the table. “Do you have everything ready for your first day tomorrow? Let me know now if you need anything ironed.”

  “I’m good, Mom.”

  “So, what time do you need me to drop you at the bus stop in the morning?”

  “Bus is at 7:45am, so we can leave here by 7:30am. Thankfully it goes right past the university. You can pick me up at the same bus stop about 4:10pm, but if I don’t see you there, I’ll just walk home – no problem.”

  “Now, you know I’ll be there.”

  “I know, Mom. Anyway, I’m just going to get a shower.”

  “Don’t be long, I just need to heat up the dinner.”

  *

  Martha and Simon were clearing the table after dinner.

  “You know, Mom, I’m just going to go straight to bed now.”

  “You all packed?”

  “Yes, all packed and ready.”

  “I’ll finish tidying up, and then I’d like us to say prayers together tonight.”

  “Okay, I’ll see you in a bit.”

  Martha went into Simon’s room soon after. He was already in bed reading a book.

  “Did you see the new socks I got for you? I put them in the drawer here.”

  “Yes. Thanks, Mom.”

  “What’s the book you’re reading?”

  “The hint is here on the cover, where it says ‘The History of Religion.’”

  Martha looked at Simon narrowed her eyes and showed him her fist. “I really could hit you now, Simon.”

  “You couldn’t hit me, Mom. You always say you’re going to and never do.”

  “One day I might surprise you.”

  “Yeah. You always say that too.”

  “Anyway, son, let’s say prayers together. We have a lot to be thankful for. A new chapter of your life starts tomorrow.”

  “Just one thing, Mom, when you pick me up tomorrow can you park a bit away from the bus stop?”

  “Are you ashamed to have your mother collect you after school?”

  “It isn’t so much you collecting me. It’s more what you’re collecting me in…”

  “Do you want to learn to drive or not?”

  *

  Sheriff Amos walked into the bar and saw Robert and Beth waiting for him.

  “Hi, Robert. How’s things? And how are you, Beth? You’re still managing to put up with old grumpy here?”

  “Just about, Amos. It’s not easy but I’m hanging in there. We ordered a beer for you. I hope that’s okay; its after 5:00pm so you must be off duty by now.”

  “That’s perfect, Beth, thanks. Sorry I’m late. I had to take a call just as I was leaving the station.”

  “No problem. So, tell us: how did you make out with the judge?”

  “I’m afraid it’s not good news. We built more than a strong enough case. However, the FBI has just announced that Microscopic Hair Analysis can no longer be accepted as a science that can match hair to one individual. Therefore the judge has refused to grant permission to move forward and bring Holman in. I’m really sorry.”

  “I can’t believe this,” said Beth. “The lab said it was a 94.6% likely match and they are saying that’s not good enough?”

  “The timing could not have been worse. This procedure has been accepted science since the fifties and they have just, in the last couple of weeks, come out with this ruling.”

  “So, where do we go from here? Robert and I have put so much time into this.”

  “I appreciate that. You can certainly continue to look into the other leads you have developed. Regarding the hair sample, that is a non-starter. No judge is going to listen to us after what the FBI has said. I’m so sorry.”

  Robert then told the sheriff everything Dr Bob Cooper had found out about Dr Brockman.

  “Wow! Robert, that is an unbelievable story. I will certainly get my people to look into Dr Brookman. That won’t be hard to do, but well done. At least, finally, we have his actual name now, but I’m struggling to piece this together. So it’s one of two things either: Dr Brockman is Dr Brookman – he never died but had just changed his name for some unknown reason; or, Dr Brookman died and someone, with some level of medical knowledge, is impersonating him. Do I have this correct?”

  “I think so Amos. Now, let me order another couple of beers and a glass of red wine. I’ll tell you what we’ve found out about the murder weapon.”

  “Robert, the more you look into this, the weirder it seems to get. I mean, I’ve never even heard of a knife called an Athame.”

  “I don’t think most people would have, Amos.”

  “Okay. I’ll look into that as well, but I’m not even sure where to start. I don’t know any pagans or wiccans in Sidon. Let me see what I can find out. Ne
edless to say, it would be a huge step if we could establish where the knife came from.”

  “Amos, what do you think?” asked Beth.

  “Honestly, I don’t know. I have always suspected Holman, but now, with everything you are finding out, I’m starting to have my doubts. It’s like there is more to this than we thought. You must have noticed that almost every piece of evidence you have looked at has turned up something really unexpected? I mean, not much is really normal about the case.”

  Robert quickly jumped in. “You two are letting your minds play tricks on you. There is no one other than Holman. Why can’t you see that? If this thing was investigated properly at the time, Holman would be locked up and that would have been the end of it.”

  “Robert, relax; Beth and I are on your side, but take a step back. Look at the evidence. It is certainly not a slam-dunk case against Holman.”

  CHAPTER 12

  Martha sat at the breakfast table counting the minutes. She could not wait to leave and collect Simon. What is wrong with me? she thought. He is nearly eighteen years of age and I’m worried about his first day at university. I’ve got nothing done in the house and I’ve spent the entire day thinking how he is getting on.

  Finally, for Martha it was time to go. I don’t mind being a bit early, I can sit in the car and read my book, she thought. Martha left home and drove slowly, but still she was far too early. She sat in her car with one eye on her book and the other eye looking out for the bus. Here it comes, she thought. The bus door opened and out came Simon, followed by Linda. He kissed her and walked towards the car. Well, she thought, so much for ‘just friends’. I’ll be speaking to him about this.

  “Hi, Mom. You waiting long?”

  “No, I just got here. I almost forgot I had to pick you up today… what do you think? Of course I’ve been waiting for a long time! I spent the whole day thinking about you. So tell me; how was your first day?”

  “Oh, really good. I thought it would just be orientation and getting our syllabus but, once we found our classes and sat down, the lecturers were straight into it. They asked questions to make sure we were paying attention and even gave us assignments to do on our first day. Can you believe that?”

  Martha smiled. “I’m thrilled to hear that. You know the university has an excellent reputation; leave there in four years time with good grades and you will be set up for life.”

  There was then a couple of minutes’ silence as they drove along the country roads. Simon took a folder from his bag and reviewed some notes he had taken.

  “So just friends huh?”

  “Oh, Mom. I just knew you had to say something. You could not just let it lie could you?”

  “Well, I must ask; I’m your mother.”

  “I told you I liked her, she reminds me of you. She is really nice and has a good group of friends who I’ve gotten to know quite well over the last few months.”

  “Is she sitting next to you in class?”

  “Well, yes – for the classes we are in together.”

  “I’m not sure I like the idea of that; I hope she will not be a distraction.”

  “No, Mom. She actually had better grades than I did in high school. She is pretty studious.”

  “I’m happy to hear that, so when am I going to meet Linda?”

  “Oh, I don’t know. I’ll see what I can arrange but don’t hassle me about this. I’ll keep it in mind and let you know.”

  “Okay, I won’t hassle you, but wow talk about defensive.”

  “Anyway, when are you going to teach me to drive?”

  “Oh, I don’t know, Simon. I’ll see what I can arrange, but don’t hassle me about this. I’ll keep it in mind.”

  Simon turned and looked at Martha. She kept her eyes on the road and then laughed out loud. “Okay, we’ll start this weekend.”

  “Thanks. So, how did you get on with your typing at the library today?”

  “I didn’t go. But I’ll definitely go tomorrow.”

  *

  Sheriff Amos spent most of the day on the phone. He was finally able to determine that, over eighteen years ago, Dr Brookman lived and worked over 300 miles away in Louisiana. He died on the 7th April 1968, and the cause of death was suspected drowning. Body was never recovered and his last listed address was: 12, Mountain View Apartments on Cornhill road. He could have assigned one of his officers to go there but he wanted to do this himself, even if it meant over six hours of driving.

  The following day, Sheriff Amos left Sidon long before dawn but it was not until after lunchtime when he pulled up outside the apartment he was looking for. There was no missing the huge “MOUNTAIN VIEW APARTMENTS” sign. On the door it said “Vacancies”.

  “Hi, my name is Sheriff Amos. I’m from the town of Sidon.”

  “I’m Larry Summers. How can I help you, Sheriff?”

  “How long have you owned these apartments, Larry?”

  “I’ll tell you what: would you like to come in? It’s a bit hot to be talking outside, and you probably could use a drink as well.”

  “Thank you. That would be great.”

  “Iced tea okay?”

  “Iced tea sounds fantastic, thanks.”

  Larry poured a couple glasses of iced tea and sat down. “To answer your question, Sheriff, my wife and I have lived here for over forty years but it did not look like this originally. We have done a lot of work to the place; most of the apartments you see we added ourselves.”

  “I’d like to ask you about one of the tenants you had here about eighteen years ago.”

  “Oh, with my memory the way it is, I may need to get the wife to help me here. That is quite some time back. What’s the name of the person you want to know about?”

  “His name is Dr Brookman.” From the look on Larry’s face, Sheriff Amos knew he recognised the name.

  “I don’t think I need to call the wife, I remember him well.”

  “What can you tell me, Larry?”

  “I remember just about everything. He was a young doctor, really well mannered and an extremely likeble guy. However, a few months after he moved in, he asked me if anyone had stayed in the apartment before him, so I said, ‘of course’. He wanted to know if they had complained about anything strange going on in there. I asked him, ‘strange like what?’ He said he was having trouble sleeping at night. There was a voice and he swore he had seen a figure in there.

  “I told him tenants complain about things from time to time but never anything like that. I could tell he was quite spooked by whatever happened to him. Over time it must have gotten worse. The wife and I used to hear him shouting in the middle of the night.”

  “What was he saying? Larry, do you remember?”

  “He kept shouting ‘leave me alone’, there were screams as well. I spoke to him again and he told me there was a demon attacking him.”

  “I met him one day. Well, actually I walked up to him from behind when he was going into his apartment. He must have sensed I was there as he turned quickly and looked at me with the most terrified expression on his face, and it made me feel real uneasy. He was trying to control himself, but he was clearly shaking, the poor guy. He composed himself and I told him if he wanted I could move him to a different apartment. However, he didn’t answer me, he just nodded. I was really happy he took me up on the offer as some of the other tenants had started complaining to me about him screaming during the night.

  “Anyway, we helped him pack up his stuff and he moved all the way to the other side: over there, closest to the road. It’s about as far away from where he was as he could have been, and it was away from most of the other tenants as well.

  “Unfortunately, it did not help. In fact, things got worse. Whenever I saw him, he was really shaken up. My wife was very worried about him. He had gone from this fresh-fac
ed young doctor to looking really terrible. Eventually, he came to me and said he wanted to break the lease agreement and he would be leaving at the end of the month. I said to him, forget about breaking the agreement, you won’t owe me anything, just square me up at the end of this month.

  “I think it was a Saturday or Sunday, but it was the weekend for sure when the police knocked on the door to tell me about the accident.”

  “You’re referring, of course, to the canoe accident.”

  “Yes, it was terrible. I couldn’t believe it. The police looked around his apartment but they did not stay long.”

  “Do you know if going out on the river was something he did a lot?”

  “He never mentioned it to me, but he should not have gone. We had terrible rain for days and the rivers were really swollen and running fast. They warn folk not to go but I guess, for some people, that is the best time, although obviously not for him.”

  “I understand his body was never recovered, Larry.”

  “That’s right, Sheriff. They found the canoe smashed but never found him.”

  “What happened to his belongings in the apartment?”

  “Well, when there was no sign of the body, I read in the papers that he had been declared dead. I contacted the police and told them I had all his stuff in the apartment. However, they told me they had no information on relatives to forward it to, so the wife and I packed it into boxes, cleaned the apartment and continued renting it.”

  “Did anyone ever complain about the apartment after he left?”

  “No complaints, well nothing like what he was seeing and hearing that’s for sure.”

  “Did anyone ever show up to collect his belongings?”

  “No, it doesn’t seem like he had any family at all.”

  “What eventually happened to them?”

  “We kept them along with things other tenants leave in a store room in the basement. We’ve had people come back a year or more after they’ve checked out, asking about something they left, other times it just sits in the storeroom year after year.”