I Am Chosen

A Tale of Two Estates

Kacey never would have considered that a black man could turn red, but Captain Bryce was getting pretty close.

"What exactly was this 'lead' you were chasing?" He was standing behind his desk, hands on his hips, his question directed at Hollis, who sat in a chair next to Kacey.

"We think there's a historical link to the killings. We went to talk to an old man on San Juan. This guy knows more about local history-"

"You get anything solid?"

"A potential connection, maybe," Hollis answered.

"Maybe? Maybe" The captain's voice rose a few octaves. "You drove someone off a ferry!" Bryce turned around, probably to talk himself out of leaping over the desk. He pivoted back, veins standing out at his collar. "You realize we're being investigated more than the killer? And you-" he jabbed his finger at Kacey "What the hell were you even doing there?"

Kacey cleared her throat. "We were working this new angle together."

Bryce leaned forward. "You're on administrative leave!" Standing straight again he said "Well now you've had to hand over another weapon. At this point you'll be protecting yourself with pepper spray."

The captain sighed and said "You think this homeless guy was under the same influence as Hanson?"

Hollis hesitated. Kacey said "We think so, yeah," rather than: "Actually sir, the guy who attacked us was Declan Crowe. You know, the dead dude. Oh, and his left arm looks like something Davy Jones from Pirates of the Caribbean would scream and run away from."

Bryce picked up papers from his desk, then slammed them back down. "Witnesses say you shot this guy. Both of you."

"We, uh... we think he was wearing a vest," Hollis said. Wow, did that guy suck at lying.

"Guess we'll find out when the body turns up," Bryce barked back. Kacey refrained from saying that she didn't expect a body to turn up.

"You," Bryce leveled his finger at Hollis. "You know the drill. Administrative leave until the internal investigation is complete. Who knows when that'll be, considering the backlog. And you-" the same finger jabbed at Kacey. "Try to actually stay on leave this time. Now get the hell out of my office."

Several hours later Kacey returned to her apartment. There was still crime scene tape across Mrs. Beesley's door.

Ten minutes after that Kacey was planted on her couch in the midst of all the still-unopened boxes, a glass of bargain merlot on the table in front of her, spooning Rocky Road out of the carton. When the carton was half empty she replaced it in the fridge, took her glass to the bedroom and sat on the end of her bed, staring at the timeline across from her. She pulled out her cell phone, found Hollis's number and hit the call button. He answered on the second ring.

"Hey. Look... I don't know about you but I can't just let this go," Kacey said.

There was a long sigh on the other end. "We got nothin' to go on."

"Actually... I did a little more digging into Pleasant Hills Asylum after we left Bryce's office. ALL of the records just sat there for ten years after its doors closed. No government or state agency wanted anything to do with it. You know where the paperwork eventually ended up?"

Silence. Kacey said, "Department of Health."

More silence. Kacey continued: "I happen to know that you have a relative who works at the DoH."

"Come on," Hollis said. "Are you listening to yourself? What if I could get ahold of those records? They'd be inadmissible."

"Inadmissible for what? Arresting a dead guy? The rules have changed, can't you see that? You still think there's a chance of us stopping this guy and doing it by the book?"

There was a longer silence this time, followed by: "I'll get back to you."

The next morning, Kacey sat drinking coffee at the Red Hook Diner, at the same table she had sat at with Hollis just a few days ago. She thanked her lucky stars that the place was basically deserted and she could enjoy her java in peace.

She had to admit, the old goat had come through. He had reached out to his cousin at the Department of Health and gotten into some storage room where he found stacks of dusty boxes labeled PHA-Pleasant Hills Asylum. He had searched through those boxes and found maintenance records, employee evaluations and some doctors' notes. Problem was, they were doctors notes for the patients who weren't killed. The notes for the patients who were gunned down in 1930 had been nowhere to be found.

The diner door opened and Hollis came skulking through. He removed his jacket and sat across from her. "I uh, I'll be honest. I don't know what I'm doing here," he said.

"None of us do. Humanity's purpose is one of life's great mysteries."

"You know what I mean," Hollis growled.

"Well, you are here. So you wanna hear me out or what?"

Hollis didn't say no, so Kacey continued: "Those records were stolen. We both know it. Everything I see points to Declan being connected, right? I figured he got ahold of them somehow..."

"PHPD searched Declan's place top to bottom after you shot him," Hollis said. "If they'd have found anything suspicious-"

"I looked Declan up on the County Assessor's site. There were two estates listed in his name. One matches his primary address. But the other wasn't even his until seven months ago... it belonged to Walter Coolidge, a crusty old codger who kicked off last October. Turns out Declan was Coolidge's only living relative. So his property went to Declan."

Hollis was listening, unblinking. Then he said "And the killings started just after that... so you think Coolidge had those records, that Declan found them."

"It's a theory. I think he found something at Coolidge's place; the timing is way too coincidental. But, there's only way to be sure."

Hollis leaned back, eyeing Kacey wearily. "Where's all this going?" he asked.

Kacey leaned in and said "I want you to help me break into Coolidge's estate."

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Hope you all had an amazing Thanksgiving. This year, I'm giving thanks that I can sit around and write stories that people actually care to read. Pretty amazing to make a living doing what you love to do. Thanks to all of you who make this writer's life possible!