Secret Deception (Jonathan Black's Love Story)

Chapter 38: Psycho

Halloween night began as normally as possible with Cameron as a brother. He ran around our house setting up decorations before running to the grocery store for Halloween candy.
"I don't mind Cameron wanting to decorate the house or handing out candy but does he always have to run around at the last minute like that?" I asked.
"You know Cam, babe. Last minute is his style." Jonny said wrapping his arm around my waist.
"Which is why I bought his suit for the wedding." I laughed.
"With our affinity for horror movies you'd think you'd like Halloween." He teased.
"I do like Halloween, Jonny, but being an FBI agent for almost ten years made me see the dark side of it too."
"Understandable." He kissed the side of my head.
I sighed as my cellphone started ringing.
"Here we go." I muttered pulling away from Jonathan.
"Carter." I answered.
"Alexia. This one's really bad. Can you come to the community center?" Jennifer said.
"Of course, Jen. I'll be right there."
I hung up and smiled at my love.
"Don't wait up, baby. Jen says it's bad."
I leaned over and kissed him gently.
"Be safe my love."
"Always. Love you."
"Love you too."
An hour later I pulled into the community center parking lot.
"What do we have, Jen?"
"I can't even explain it. Come look."
Jen lead me down to the cellar. Set up in a circle were five contraptions with dead bodies hanging from each of the hooks.
"Oh my God..." I murmured taking in the scene.
"What do we know?" I asked.
"Not much yet. There's blood all over the community center. It's like he locked them in here and hunted them. The hook didn't even kill them immediately." She answered.
"Director Carter. We found something." A young Agent said from the doorway.
Jen and I followed her to the gymnasium where a large screen was set up with a video projected on it.
"Hello... and welcome. I trust that you are all wondering where you are. I can assure you that while your location is not important, what terror awaits you this All Hallows Eve is. My goal tonight is simple: kill every single one of you. The only way to escape alive is to make sure I do not find you before the sun rises. You are all here for one reason and once you realize what you all have in common, you will gain a better understanding of why you are here. X marks the spot for that clue, so look carefully. Let the game begin." A distorted voice said over the speakers.
A large muscular man sat in a chair on the screen his face completely covered with a skull mask. One you can get at any Halloween store. He slammed a sledgehammer hammer onto the desk in front of him.
"From what he said his 'game' probably started after midnight giving him just over seven and a half hours to hunt and kill five people. What do we know about the victims?" I asked.
"Cesar Rocha was a 68 year old short, thin, man with the mid length ponytail. He went missing from Cleveland, Ohio. His estimated time of death was around 12:32am." Jen said.
"Cassidy Bryan was a 27 year old tall, thin woman with the short straight golden blond hair. She went missing from Garland, Texas. Her estimated time of death was 7:19am." Emily added.
"Clyde White was a 35 year old man of average height and weight with the long wavy light brown hair. He went missing from Birmingham, Alabama. His estimated time of death was 6:02am." Spencer spoke up.
"Curtis Carson was a 55 year old large man with the curly graying dark brown hair worn down. He went missing from Madison, Wisconsin. His estimated time of death 3:39am." David said walking in from the hallway.
"Thank you for coming Dave." I said softly.
"Anything for you, boss." He smiled.
"Melody Braun was a 46 year old short, muscular woman with the wavy graying, dull blond short hair. She went missing from Wichita, Kansas. Her estimated time of death was 4:42am."
"Spencer will you write up the time line so we can try to piece the night together, please. Emily, please touch base with forensics and see if we can figure out where each person was found before being hooked. Jen, will you come with me to interview the victim's families? Dave, will you analyze the video and write me up a preliminary profile?"
I divided up our team before driving with Jen back to the FBI headquarters to meet with the families.
"First we have Breanna and Tyler Bryan, Cassidy Bryan's parents." Jen said bringing me the file.
"Mr and Mrs. Bryan." I greeted them as they walked into my office, standing to shake their hands.
"Director Carter. Are you going to find the person who killed our daughter?"
"My team and I are doing everything we can to find whoever did this." I assured her.
"What do you need from us, Director?" Mrs. Bryan asked me.
"We need to know anything you can tell us about your daughter."
"She went missing a couple days ago. She didn't call afte school like she normally does. We didn't report her missing because she's 27."
"Did she have any friends she was particularly close to?"
"Charity Jenkins has been her best friend for almost ten years. Maybe she can help you more than we can."
"I'll give her a call, if you'll leave her number with Jennifer. Thank you for your time, Mr and Mes. Bryan."
Jennifer showed them back out.
"I'm not sure how much we'll get out of the families." I muttered when the door opened.
"Director Carter." Mrs. Bryan said softly.
"Yes, Mrs. Bryan?"
"There's something I should tell you but I didn't want to say it in front of my husband."
"Come in Mrs. Bryan."
She walked in and sat in the chair before me.
"Cassidy isn't Tyler's daughter."
"Who's her father?"
"Curtis Carson."
"That was very important information, Mrs. Bryan. Thank you for returning to tell me."
She smiled sadly at me and walked back out of my office.
I met up with Spencer and looked over the timeline.
"Curtis Carson is the biological father of Cassidy Bryan. That's at least one connection but why would that get them killed?" He asked.
"It makes sense to our UNSUB. We just have to find out why." I sighed.
Jonathan walked into the conference room with Cameron, Jasmine and the rest of the Deception team.
"Hey, guys. What are you doing here?" I asked as Jonny walked over to me.
"We heard about this case on the news and we're hoping we could help." Jonny answered.
"It won't hurt to have a few extra hands and maybe some fresh eyes." I nodded.
Cameron walked up to the board.
"Hey, Jonny. Wasn't Curtis Carson the owner of that theater in New York when we were kids?"
"I think so."
"What theater?" I asked.
"Don't you remember? The Diamond Assembly Hall near the Archive. They normally held concerts and plays. Definitely a little more high end than a young magician, but..."
"The one we used to sneak into?"
"Yeah." Cam laughed.
I dialed my technical analyst's number.
"Penelope. Can you get me employment records for The Diamond Assembly Hall in New York?" I asked.
"They closed down almost ten years ago."
"Who was working there before it closed down."
"It was only open for about ten years and all of the employees worked there the whole time."
"Give me the names, love." I said.
"Melody Braun, Cesar Rocha, Clyde White, and Greg Hale." She listed.
"Will you look into any newspaper articles or police reports from The Diamond Assembly Hall in the ten years it was open?"
"Yeah. Give me a minute here. A lot of concerts and plays... oh wait. Here's something. There's a police report dated Friday October 31st 2008. Caleb Ortiz age 27 was found beaten and bloodied on the stage, hanging by a hook contraption. Investigators found signs that the victim was tortured from midnight October 31st to sunrise October 31st. Mr. Ortiz succumbed to his injuries shortly after arriving at the hospital. Another man whose name has been withheld was found bound just backstage after witnessing the murder." She read.
"No one was caught?" I asked.
"Of course not." She sighed.
"Give me everything you have on Greg Hale."
"I have a current address but it looks like he's been in and out of mental hospitals for the last ten years. He currently lives with his mother."
"Send the address and we'll go check it out." I sighed.
"You guys were amazing help." I kissed Cam on the head.
"I'll see you at home." I kissed Jonny and touched Jasmine's shoulder as we ran out.
After suiting up with bullet proof vests we climbed into the SUV and drove to the address Penelope gave us.
"Let me go up there. Dave and Jen go around the left. Spencer and Emily go around the right and cover other exits." I said.
My gun secured in its holster.
I walked up to the front door and knocked.
An older woman opened the door.
"Hello, Ms. Ortiz. I'm Director Alexia Carter of the FBI. Is your son here, ma'am?" I asked softly.
"Of course, madame Director." She moved aside and let me in.
Once I walked through the door, Greg Hale grabbed the gun off my hip and pushed the barrel into my side.
"I knew you'd come." He growled.
"They deserved what they got."
"That's why I came here, Greg. I came to get your side of the story. I want to know what happened." I said as calmly as I could manage.
"Fine." He shoved me forward toward the wall.
"You wanna know what happened? Sit down." He pointed my gun towards the couch.
I sat on the couch watching him carefully.
"Tell me what happened, Greg." I urged.
"Caleb was my best friend. I was only 18 when it happened. Curtis, Ceaser and Clyde dragged us into the theater after work where Melody was waiting. They tied me up and threw me off the stage. They took turns punching and kicking Caleb over and over again. Melody pulled his fingernails off. Ceaser burned holes in him with cigarettes. Clyde just stood there videotaping it while Curtis lifted him up and stuck him on that hook." He started crying and laid my gun on the table.
"Did they say why they were doing it, Craig?" I asked picking up my gun as quietly as I could.
"They'd been picking on him forever. He told me so. Because he was slow, up here." He tapped the side of his head.
"What they did was wrong, Craig, but what you did was wrong too. You have to know that." I urged as David walked up behind him.
"I know. I know." He whined.
"Come on, son." David said quietly.
Without further incident, Craig stood up and allowed David to handcuff him before being lead away.
When I got home that night, Jonny was sitting on the couch fast asleep. I shook my head and smiled at him; grabbed one of the blankets off the top of the couch and settled in next to him.