56. Chapter 56
Arriving at the hospital, Emily quickly locates Agent Dolls standing outside a hospital room, flicking through his notebook. “I’m sorry to have missed your call, but I was with my girls. What are we dealing with here?” pointing to the closed door to the room, Emily waits for Dolls answer.
“It’s alright, a call came into the station, someone had heard screams coming from the basement of an abandoned building, down in the industrial area. Searching the basement, they found three girls with both their hands and feet bound together. Of the three, this young girl was the only survivor, all of them had their faces peeled off. It’s surprising that she lived for so long, and in pain. Her parents have been in to see her, they just left. The doctors had sedated her to prevent her from having to experience any more pain.” Dolls gave Emily a run down of the basics of the case.
Placing her palm on the handle of the door, Emily looked at Dolls and asked, “Can I go in?”
“Yes, but you need to prepare yourself, she has her head fully covered with bandages and she’s breathing with the aid of a tube.” Dolls nods.
Pushing open the door, Emily hesitantly steps into the room and towards the hospital bed. Lying on the bed was a young girl around the age of 15 years, her hands lie on top of the bed sheets, which are pulled up over the girl’s chest. Surrounding her head were white bandages, that the doctors had left space for a tube which was sticking out of her mouth and attached to a machine, that assisted her with breathing. The only sounds in the room were from the breathing machine, as well as the heart and blood pressure machine making binging and beeping noises.
A lump makes it way from Emily’s stomach all the way to the middle of her throat and stuck. Standing at the side of the bed, she reached out and took hold of the hand closest to her, in her own. “I am sorry that you’ve had to go through all of this. I promise you that I am going to find out who did this and I’m going to make them pay for it.” The hand that she was holding gave a small squeeze and then it went limp. The noise from the blood pressure machine continued to beep, indicating that the young girl was still alive. Emily took this as sign that she was to focus on the case and locate the person responsible for what had happened to this young girl and the other two.
Over the next couple of weeks, Emily, Wynonna, and Dolls work on the case, but without any physical evidence revealing the culprit, they find their hands are tied. During this time Emily and Louise maintain a pleasant atmosphere for their daughters, especially when Emily picks and drops off Alison and Vicki, after her visitation afternoons. One afternoon Emily stands on the front porch after the little girls had run inside, she approaches Louise and asks, “I was wondering if you would be open to having a coffee with me, when the girls are at day care?”
“I would like that, maybe you could meet me at Mama’s Dinner and that way, we can have some privacy to talk openly. Would tomorrow morning be to soon for you?” Louise leans against the doorframe.
“Is 11am to early?” Emily kicks at a piece of dirt beneath her feet.
“Sounds like a plan. I will see you then. Goodbye Emily.” Louise steps back so that she can close the door, before taking one last look of her wife walking down the steps and towards her car.
The young girl which had survived being tortured, was now able to be questioned, by Dolls. He sat in a chair beside her bedside and with a A4 whiteboard and whiteboard marker, the young lady tries to write her answers, some of them appeared as squiggles rather than words. She was able write the name Tucker, which indicated that it was the male Gardner who had kidnapped her and dragged her out of the change rooms. The young girl was able to draw a car and using an arrow pointing to its boot. Then she drew herself with her hands and mouth wrapped with tape. She was unable to recall what happened next, other than drawing two women standing next to a knife. Her next drawing revealed the moment when she felt the sting of a knife, piercing her skin and having the flesh of her face being peeled away from her body.
Emily headed back to the station after making her date with Louise and found Dolls typing up his report of the girl’s recollections. Standing next to the case wall was a tall black-haired woman, dressed in a black power suit, Emily was unable to see her face as the woman had her back to Emily. “I just wanted to see how the visit with the girl went.” Emily looked over at the mystery woman as she pulled out the chair opposite Dolls desk.
“Oh, before I forget, this is Supervisor Marshall Stranger, Deputy Agent Faye. She has come to help with the case. Supervisor Marshall Stranger, this is Deputy Agent Faye. Faye has been working on the case since day one. The meeting went well, we now have solid evidence linking Tucker Gardner with the kidnapping of these girls. Nicole is bringing him in right now as we speak.” Dolls leans back in his chair and smiles.
“Pleasure to meet you Deputy Agent Faye, I’ve heard so much about you from Agent Dolls. You can call me Hayley. I believe that you made the connection between this Tucker and the missing girls.” Supervisor Marshall Stranger looks at Emily and extends her hand out to the younger woman.
“Um, I’m not sure …” Emily was interrupted as Nicole opened the Black Badge office door.
“He’s in the interviewing room.” Dolls, Emily, and Hayley follow Nicole to the interview room. Emily and Hayley head for the viewing room, while Dolls enters the interview room to question Tucker.
“Tucker Gardner, I guess you’ve been told as to why you’re here. We have a witness that has stated that you were the one that kidnapped them and took them hostage. It’s lucky for you that you will not be charged with the deaths of three young girls, as only two died. This is your chance to tell your side of the story. Let’s start with why?” Dolls sits across the metal table from a nervous Tucker, inside a small room with a two-way mirror window on one of the walls.
“I refuse to say anything without my attorney present.” Was all Tucker said.
Before Dolls could try to question Tucker any further, there was a knock on the door which is opened by Sheriff Earp-Haught. Standing behind her was a tall dark-haired man in a suit and tie, without being asked to enter the room, he pushed his way past Nicole and directly over to Tucker.
“Mr Gardner don’t say anything more. You are coming with me.” Tucker Gardner’s lawyer said turning to face Dolls.
“You’re kidding right. How?” A stunned Dolls stands looking at Nicole for an answer.
“It appears that Judge Cryderman considers Tucker, here to be worthy of being given bail.” Nicole says in an appalled tone, while Tucker and his lawyer storm out of the interview room and out of the station. Behind the viewing window Emily and Hayley stand deflated after watching the scene play before them.
Dolls forcefully makes his way into the Black Badge office, with the door being slammed opened against the wall, startling Jeremy who was working on his computer. Looking at his lover, Jeremy knew that the Alpha needed to calm down before he would be able to communicate. Emily, Hayley, and Nicole follow behind, not saying anything just shaking their heads for a while.
“What do we do now?” Emily asked while starting at a photo of the young girl which was pinned to the crime wall.
“I’ll arrange to meet this Judge Cryderman and explain the urgency of the situation. But until then all we can do is wait.” Hayley replies with a sincere look at both Emily and Dolls. “I know you both have worked so hard on this and it’s disheartening to have it fall apart. This Tucker is going to screw up at some stage, and we will be there to catch him.”
The next day Emily leaves the station and heads towards Mama’s Dinner, feeling nervous as she was going to tell her wife the truth about her parents and that she has a sister somewhere out there in the world. As she approached the dinner, Emily saw through the window, Louise was sitting in a booth, wearing Emily’s favourite dress, making the black-haired woman’s heart skip a beat. Then Tucker Gardner walked over to the booth and appeared to be having a conversation with her wife, this was the last straw when it came to Tucker for Emily. Before she could reign in her Alpha, Emily pushed her way into the dinner and tackled Tucker to the floor and connected her fist with his jaw several times, causing the wafer thin male’s nose to bleed and lip to be cut, as a couple of teeth were dislodged from their home.
“(Growling) Stay away from my wife, you ….” Emily releases before she feels hands sliding around her waist as she is being pulled off Tucker. Emily turns around and stares down a customer before looking over at Louise.
“EMILY, what are you doing? Tucker is my friend; we were only talking. Anyway you ….” Louise stops herself from saying something that would hurt them both. Picking up her purse, she digs her hand inside and pulls out enough money to pay for her coffee, before leaving the dinner in tears.
Other customers assist Tucker in providing him with First Aid, while Mama calls it through to the station. It was not long before another Deputy arrives and takes down all the details of the incident, before taking Emily by the elbow back to the station. As Emily walks past the weedy little man, Tucker is determined to stir up Emily that much more as he says, “This is harassment. If I were you, I’d be more mindful of the things you love, because one day they will all be gone.”
The Deputy’s hold on Emily was not that tight and he was surprised as Emily tussled her way out his grip and attacked Tucker once again, this time she was sure that his jaw was broken for sure. As she was lead away in cuffs, Emily grinned from ear to ear, knowing that she was going to cope it and have to face disciplinary action, but Emily could not care, because she had been able to give Tucker a taste of his own medicine.
As Emily was being walked into the station by her fellow co-worker, she still is not fuss about her career, until she catches sight of Nicole standing in the bullpen. The look on Nicole’s face was enough to make even her own children know that she meant business. After Emily had gone through the charging processes, Nicole called her into the office, which she slammed the door behind her Deputy.
“Look Emily, I know that you’re going through a lot at the moment, but as a Sheriff’s Deputy you just can’t go and punch out the citizens of Purgatory. Even though it might have been Tucker Gardner, you just can’t do it, and especially in uniform. I want you to think about your actions over the next week, as you are now suspended for the week. You’re not even allowed to help with Black Badge during this time. You can go now.” Nicole sternly says to Emily, who is now realising that she had let herself lose control and now it was going to not only cost her career, but also her family.
Keeping a low profile, Emily used the week to reflect on her behaviour and how she was letting her feelings regarding the news of her parents giving her away and being lied to for all this time. Making the decision that she was going to fight for her family and her career, and to look into obtaining therapy to assist with the processing and coping with all her emotions associated with being abandoned by her birth family. Emily made her first appointment with a therapist over in the city, which was two weeks away.
Heading back into the station that first day, Emily was hesitant at first, as she was concerned that her fellow co-workers would think less of her, because of her actions. As soon as she walked through the doors, Emily was greeted with smiles and hellos from everyone in the bullpen, which touched her heart. Dolls exited the Black Badge Office just at that moment and says, “Great, you’re just in time, we have a tip off on Tucker Gardner. Care to join me?”
Emily grins before saying, “I’ll have to check with the Sheriff first, but sure if it’s ok.” She pushes open the bullpen gate and checks with Nicole and get the go ahead to join Dolls. The pair jump into Dolls black SUV and head towards the Gardner homestead, which has Emily squirming in her seat. Before they exit the vehicle, Dolls turns and says, “It’s ok, Mercedes is not here, Beth is the one that called it in.”
Beth answers the front door in her 1880’s style blue dress and shows Dolls and Emily inside. “Like I said to the dispatcher, for the past couple of weeks, there’s been a strong odour oozing out from under Tucker’s bedroom door. He locks his door even when he’s in there, so I haven’t been able to find out until now. Every time I ask him about it, he just fobs me off. It’s gotten so bad that this morning, I broke into his room and ….” Beth breaks down crying into Dolls shoulder, who catches her before she collapses.
Once Beth had regained her ability to convey directions to Tucker’s room, Dolls and Emily followed the foal smelling room. Upon entering the room, the first thing other than the smell, that Emily noticed was the far bedroom wall, and especially what was covering that wall. Photos of Louise, her wife at different times and locations around Purgatory, had been cut out and used to cover the entire wall. Right there and then, Emily finally understood exactly what Tucker had meant by “If I were you, I’d be more mindful of the things you love, because one day they will all be gone.” Tucker was obsessed with Louise and all those girls that he had taken, were a trial run before he made his move in securing Emily’s wife for his own.
Dolls quickly located the source of the foal odour in the back of Tucker’s bedroom closet. It was the flesh that had been removed from the kidnapped girls, as time had gone by, the flesh had decomposed and rotted away. Sensing the tension oozing from the Deputy, Dolls suggested, “We had better get these back for testing, and get your family protected from Tucker.” Dolls thanked Beth for alerting them and that they would look after Tucker, before rushing to the SUV and headed back to the station.
“Louise, look I know …LOUISE, please let me speak. I need you and the girls to go start to the station and stay there. Stay with Nicole and Waverly, PLEASE. Nicole will fill you in when you get there. And whatever you do go straight to the station. I love you.” Emily screams through the phone, before ending the call. Dolls was on his phone calling Nicole and filling her in on what they had discovered at the Gardner homestead, that Louise and the girls were under no circumstances were they allowed to leave her presences.
When Dolls pulls into his parking spot at the station, Emily climbs out of the SUV and runs towards her car and drives off, yelling over her shoulder, “I’m heading back to my house and collect some clothes for Louise and the girls. I’ll be right back Dolls.” Dolls tries to talk her out of it, but she insists on heading off on her own. Dolls shakes his head and rushes into the station with the rotting flesh in a bag, and hands over to Jeremy to examine.
Nicole is in the bullpen, waiting for Dolls and Emily to return, so when she notices only Dolls entering the station, she asks and receives the answer that Emily had gone back to her house, without back up.
Louise and the girls are sitting in Nicole’s office and she hears Dolls mention that Emily was not with him. “Are you going to explain why me, and my girls are to stay around Nicole? No offence.”
“We just came back from the Gardner’s homestead and we found that Tucker has an obsession with you. One of his bedroom walls was overed with photos of you. Emily wanted to make sure that you and the girls were safe, until we can catch him and put him away.” Dolls places a hand on a devastated Louise, who was now moving to sit on Nicole’s couch.
MeanwhileEmily unlocks the front door to her home, the home she used to share with her wife and daughters, when they were all happy and she had not stuffed up this happiness. Being so focused on wanting to get back to the station, Emily did not check the house before entering, because when she reaches the kitchen, which had on the table, three cups that had residue of what looked like Orange juice in the bottom. Smiling as she remembered the first time her daughters tasted Orange juice, the funny face that Vicki pulled was priceless, but Alison just loved the stuff, drinking all of it in one go. Being lost in her memory, Emily felt a sharp pain at the back of her head, causing her vision to begin to darken, as the view of the kitchen disappeared from her sight.
“If I were you, I’d be more mindful of the things you love, because one day they will all be gone.” Tucker said as he stood over Emily’s limp body, lying on the floor.