After The Storm (Chapter-30)

Each day that passed after the presentation was uneventful and Paul was beginning to wonder if Jacob’s family had turned over any information to the authorities. Things with Carissa had gone back to the friend zone. He apologized for the kiss, she accepted but told him she was just not ready for a relationship just yet.

He was about to give up on the evidence ever seeing the light of day when his phone rang and a deep voice on the other end identified himself as Detective O’Brien.

The detective said, “We have come across some evidence about a possible homicide and have reason to believe you may be a witness. I wanted to request that you come to the station and have a talk with us.”

Paul responded to Detective O’Brien, “I can come this afternoon if that works?”

The detective replied, “I will see you then.”

Paul hung up and called Carissa. She answered and he said, “I just got a call from a Detective O’Brien, and he asked me to come in and talk to them about some new evidence they just received.”

Carissa asked, “I will meet you there. What time are you going?”

Paul replied, “I am about to leave. Can you get off work?”

She responded, “I was off today, I was just hanging out at the park to get out of the house.”

They agreed to meet and pulled into the parking lot at the same time. Paul walked over, opened Carissa’s door and escorted her into the police station. When the sergeant at the front desk asked if he could help them,

Paul said, “I am here to see Detective O’Brien.”

The sergeant asked, “Who can I say is inquiring?”

Paul said, “Tell him Paul Daniels is here to answer some questions.”

The sergeant went into the detective’s office and let him know that Paul Daniels was here ready to answer questions. O’Brien told him to bring them to his office. The detective greeted Paul and Carissa and Paul introduced her while he told the detective she had a story to add to what was available on the video. The detective invited them both to sit. He said, “I usually question people in the interrogation room, but this office is a lot more comfortable and easier for you to be relaxed in.”

They all had a seat around the desk; the detective sat in his chair behind the desk and Paul and Carissa sat in chairs in the front of the desk.

The detective said, “We have been given a video that shows your car accident in a new light. Do you want to elaborate on what you know about the video?”

Paul responded, “I don’t remember that much, the only real memory I had was of waking up in the trunk and that memory only returned recently. I think my girlfriend Carissa can shed some light and then we can come back to this.”

The detective looked at Carissa with that look of “Okay tell me your story.”

Carissa said, “I may need some water before I finish this. I lived in Colorado and worked in a hospital on the evening shift.”

The detective stopped her for a second and looked through his notes and said, “Yes, I have that here and we spoke to the sheriff there who told us all about you and your dad. I even have the report on the break-in at your house. Is that related to this story?”

Carissa replied, “I think it is but let me tell you what I know, and you can decide what, if anything, it means.”

Carissa continued telling her story about coming home after work, slowly driving in a raging storm that washed the bridge out later that night.

She said, “I was making a curve and my headlights struck something in the road up ahead. I drove really slowly, figuring it might be a dead animal or maybe something that fell out of a truck, and I didn’t want to damage my car. When I got close enough, I could see it was human. I got out and went to examine the body. Since I have had training in trauma situation, that training kicked in and I checked his vital signs first. He had a pulse, even though it was a weak one.”

One of the officers from down the hall stopped by with some water for Carissa and she took a couple of sips before continuing. “I had to get him out of the highway, even though I hadn’t seen any other cars in at least an hour. I saw he had wounds and was bleeding and I needed to get that stopped and clean the wounds, but I couldn’t do it on the highway.”

The room was her audience, and everyone hung on every word.

She continued, “I moved my car slowly beside the body and got out and lifted his head and torso onto the seat and then went and opened the door on the opposite side and managed to pull his shoulders and arms and gradually pulled him the rest of the way in.”

The crowd of officers breathed a sigh of relief as Carissa took a few more sips of water before she continued.

She said, “I shut both doors and was grateful I had him loaded even though I may have dislocated his shoulder in doing so.”

One of the officers asked, “Did that hurt when she dislocated your shoulder?”

Paul answered, “Not nearly as much as when she put it back in place.”

Carissa said, “I drove to my house and was somewhat nervous, I had a stranger in my car full of knife wounds and had no idea how or why they had gotten there, but he needed help and I am a nurse.”

The officers were as tense as teenagers around a campfire listening to ghost stories.

Carissa continued, “I drove to my house and at least there I had some equipment. I had taken care of my dad for years after he was shot. I had wheelchairs, walkers, ramps and people movers, not to mention a hospital bed. He had lost a lot of blood and I didn’t have that to give him and that was the big concern.”

She told them how she got him out of her SUV and loaded into the wheelchair and then rolling that up the ramp. She even told about getting him into bed and cutting his clothes off before she cleaned his wounds.

She was lucky to have clothes left from when her dad had been alive.

Carissa said, “The knife wounds were deep, it was their intention that he didn’t survive. He was passed out for days and when he finally did come to, he had no memory. He didn’t know who he was or where he was and certainly didn’t know why someone used him as a pin cushion.”

The detective asked, “How did you finally identify him?”

Carissa replied, “I found an ID in his wallet and talked to my friend the sheriff about the name. The sheriff ran a check on him and told me he was supposed to be dead.”

Carissa told the officers that in the beginning she was suspicious and slept with a pistol beside her bed but gradually she discovered that he was a gentleman and things improved between them over time. She told them about coming with Paul to Cedar Rapids and working on trying to figure out why he was dumped on the highway.

Carissa said, “Once the sheriff told me his fingerprints matched the guy who was supposed to be dead, I had to know the answer.”

Everyone shook their heads understanding exactly what she meant.

Carissa told them about the break-ins at both Paul’s house and later at hers and the realization that came to them that somebody was looking for something.

Carissa said, “I went and dug through anything I thought Paul had left and I went through the pockets of the bloody torn clothes he had been wearing and came across the SD card. I didn’t have anything that could read an SD card, so I called Paul and told him what I found. He said he had SD readers on his computer, and I mailed him the card and he sent me an email with a downloaded copy of the video.”

Detective O’Brien asked, “Did Paul have any memory of the car accident?”

Paul said, “I will answer that one. I had no memory of the car crash or them dragging me out of the car, but I did remember waking up in a trunk of a car. I didn’t know right away that was where I was but with the motion and the red glow of brake lights, I figured it out.”

Carissa said, “When we first watched the video, we didn’t know who anyone was. Paul had a friend who took the video and isolated images that he enhanced and then Paul recognized Jacob Meir from one of the photos as a client of his.”

Paul said, “I figured since it was Jacob that they wanted to dispose of, there had to be a reason and I started looking at his inner circle to see if I could figure out a motive.”

Detective O’Brian said, “When the family’s representative brought me the evidence, he told me the theory and to be honest it sounded very plausible, but we have to have more. We will have to be able to prove it.”

Paul replied, “Is there anything I can do to help?”

The detective said, “If we think of anything I will let you know. For now, all we can do is keep an eye on Abraham and see if somebody slips up.”

Carissa said, “On another note, there was a guy who was caught for a murder of a girl in Colorado, his name is Richard Hartley. We didn’t know if he had any ties or if that was just an unrelated incident.”

O’Brien said, “We know about him but there has been nothing to tie him with this group here. He may have done some jobs for them, but I think that is all.”

Paul said, “I hope we get this bunch.”

O’Brien said, “We will keep working the case. You guys are free to go.”

Carissa and Paul walked from the police station to go to their respective cars, but Carissa stopped and asked, “Is it true?”

Paul looked at her with his confused expression and asked, “Is what true?”

She replied, “Am I your girlfriend? You introduced me as your girlfriend.”

Paul responded, “Well you are a girl, and you are a friend, but mostly it was what I hoped for.”

Carissa didn’t ask any more questions and when they returned home, they went back to their normal routine.

Carissa and Paul had a nice dinner before they made it home. Dinner conversation was forced while both Carissa and Paul were deep in thought about where they were and where they wanted to be. Paul knew they hadn’t been romantic in any real way, so he figured he had forever slipped into a friend zone. When they arrived home they said goodnight, and each went their separate ways.