Hey Everyone! This book is in its final edits, so I can self-publish!
So please continue to read, and enjoy! I will announce when the book is out on Amazon!
John thanked him and grabbed some food. He sat and ate for a few minutes when his phone rang. He answered, "I will let them know, Sir."
When he hung up, he said, "Court will reconvene in ten minutes. I will put what I have left in my office."
He stood up and left. After he left, Milson said, "I never saw that man so rattled before. Alright, everyone, let’s go in. Thomas and Evan, we will send for you when they are ready for you. Thomas, you got this. We are all here for you."
We walked out and took our spot behind the prosecutor. We noticed that a few members of Thomas's family were behind the defense team. I felt bad for the lawyer, and then the door opened, and they brought Susan out. She looked over at us and sat down, saying to the lawyer, "I thought my son was going to be here?"
The lawyer said, "They will call him in when we need him, but he did not wish to be in the room with you any longer than he needed to be."
The judge came in, and everyone stood up. He had everyone raise their hands to be sworn in and stated he had already sworn in Thomas and his father, Evan. Susan looked at her lawyer and said, "I'd better be able to talk to my son."
As we sat, the Judge looked up and said, "When Thomas or Evan enters the room, everyone please remain in your seats and no conversations. Thomas is here to make sure justice is served. I will not allow anyone to bother Thomas unless he wants contact. Is that clear?"
A resounding yes went through the crowd. After the charges were presented, Susan pleaded not guilty. Everyone looked at her, and she said, "I did nothing wrong."
The Prosecutor looked up and said, "Your honor, due to the circumstances and the fact she openly admitted to trying to kill her ex-husband and what she did to her son, I ask for no bail granted."
"Your honor, I object," Her lawyer said.
The Prosecutor looked up and said, "Why don't we see what her victims want then?"
Thomas and Evan were brought into the courtroom, and the judge called Thomas to the stand. "You could see Susan was trying to get to him, and her lawyer was restraining her."
The Judge explained that he needed to ask Thomas about what his opinion was for bail until his mother's trial, and Thomas said, "Your honor, I think she should be locked up and the key thrown away. I can almost guarantee you she will break the no-contact order the court set up for me, as well as the restraining order I requested and was ordered."
Susan stood up, "But Thomas, after everything we shared. It was special and completely normal."
The Judge slammed his gavel and said, "Counselor, get her under control."
Thomas closed his eyes, took a moment, then opened them, looking right at her, "You are a disgusting human being. What you did was assault, and you would not stop when I said no. You are not my Mother, you are a fucking monster. You will never be a part of my life ever again, and if you come near me, you will be arrested."
The Judge said, "Thomas, thank you for coming in, and I am sorry you had to be here for this. As a member of the town, I want to say I am thankful you are alive and have been able to create a life for yourself. I promise you that this court will do everything it can to help you stay safe."
Thomas stood up to leave the room, and Susan jumped up to chase after him. He turned to see her being restrained by her lawyer and the bailiff. When she knew she was not going to get to him, she grabbed the bailiff's gun and wrestled free, screaming, "If I cannot be with him again, I do not want to be here."
All the officers in the room rose and went for their side arms as she put the gun to her head and pulled the trigger. The Judge ordered the room cleared. I went over to Thomas with Sam and tried to get him to leave the room. He was frozen just inside the door. I put my hand on his shoulder and said, "Thomas, come on, let them deal with this, let's go back to the conference room."
He stood there and said, "She killed herself."
Sam blocked his view and said, "Thomas, you have to listen to me. This was on her. You have been through enough. Come on, man, let's get you back to your dad."
"She took her own life," Thomas said. "She did that instead of accepting the consequences of her actions."
He turned around and walked back to the conference room.
Chapter 12
When we got there, Grace was looking out the window and said, "God, the media are vultures. We need to get you both out of here without being seen."
Milson came in and said, "We have that handled and already have officers blocking off Evans' apartment complex. That may not be enough until the news conference."
Dad looked up and said, "That will not be a problem. Grace can go to Evans' place and get their things, and they can stay with me. My house is far enough away that they should not figure it out. We have a ramp in the back yard so Evan can get in and out."
"Okay, give us some time to do a diversion," He said. "Barbara, go out and tell them there will be a news conference in front of the station in the next fifteen minutes. Sam and Amy, I need you to join me. John will help get you all out of here. Grace, I will have an officer accompany you to their place to get their things. We will also have a few vans pull out with officers covering their heads in the back seat."
We followed Captain Milson to the station, and we waited for him to open the door to start the press conference. He stood at the podium and said, "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome and thank you for your patience. I know information was leaked from the courthouse, so I ask you to please hold all questions till the end of what I have to say. First, let me say that we have discussed before about the unprecedented amount of missing people in our town and cold cases in our fine city. We took the initiative and started a task force. Due to the limited number of staff, the task force is a special two-person department consisting of Detective Sam Montgomery and Officer Amy McGill, our newest officer. Sam comes from Tampa, Florida, and has had many successful case completions. Amy is at the top of her class in both college and the police academy. She also worked at the station since she was sixteen, and throughout her high school and college education. Today, we are pleased to announce that instead of 605 cold cases, we are down to 604."
He paused as he let the reporters take in the information. Then he continued with, "The first case was Thomas Gilder, who went missing at the age of 14. We thought he could have perished during the storms and flooding that occurred when he went missing. However, the case uncovered so much worse. Thomas hid after numerous attempts of sexual assault by his mother, Susan Gilder. Due to the work on this case, we discovered what had happened, located Thomas, and also discovered that Susan Gilder had also tried to murder her ex-husband, Evan Gilder. After further investigation, she admitted to the assault on Thomas, the attempted murder of Evan, and she was arrested. However, during today's hearing, she was told she could not have any contact with Thomas, and she had a breakdown. That breakdown consisted of her taking her own life in the courtroom."
"The attempted kidnapping of Officer McGill in relation to the Thomas Gilder case is moving forward," Captain Milson said. "I ask that you please leave my officers alone and let them do their jobs. However, we understand that the media can be a valuable resource in assisting with cold cases. If you would like to leave your business cards, we will gladly accept them in case we need help on any future cases. My secretary Barbara will be at the corner of the stage to take your information. Now I will be fielding any and all case questions as my team has to get back to work."
Sam and I headed inside and went back to our office. Looking at the bulletin board, Sam asked, "Amy, what's wrong?"
"She was crazy to think after everything Thomas had been through that he would let her back into his life," I said. "She deserved to be punished as well as the whole family, but she was a victim of it because she was brought up in that type of home and mentality. She died thinking she did nothing wrong, and Thomas will have to live with what she did the rest of his life."
I leaned against my desk, and Sam leaned next to me, and he said, "I know Amy. I wanted to see her get her punishment as well, and she took the easy way out. This is the part in our line of work that we want to see the bad guy get their due. As officers, getting emotionally attached to the victims is hard not to do. This case is harder for you because Thomas is a friend. As officers, we do what we do and move to the next case. Now let’s clear the board, and will you do the honor of changing our count?"
I took the chalk, walked up, and changed the 605 to 604. After wiping the board, I turned to Sam and said, "What case is next? I picked Thomas's case; you get the next one."
Sam walked over and held up a file and said, "This one. The Kline Family from 1991. Parents, Kylie and Max Kline, and their two children, Patty and Shawn. When Kylie’s Mom did not hear from her for a few days, she went to their home on the outskirts of town, and the house was empty. Nothing else. It does not look like there was much of an investigation done, except some interviews."
I looked at Sam and said, "Let's get started."
Afterward
Thomas stayed for a while visiting his Dad and making up for the time they had lost. When it was his time to return to Canada, he came to see me at the station, and we talked, promising to keep in touch and game weekly. I would miss my best friend, and he promised that now that he didn’t have to hide, I would not be able to get rid of him. We made plans to game a few times a week, and as I walked him to the car, he said, "Amy, I am sorry I could not be honest with you. I was embarrassed about what had happened to me. But Dad told me it was my going missing that led you to becoming an officer, and I am so proud of you. You're doing cold cases here is where you belong, and I cannot wait to hear about everything you do."
We hugged for a long time before he went to get his Dad and head to the airport. Evan was going with him for a trip to Canada to properly thank Fred and May for all they had done for Thomas. As for Thomas's Grandparents and Uncles, they were convicted and are currently in the prison system. Sam and I had an investigation started into the family to protect the younger members, and some children had been pulled into the foster care system due to what was found. We will be monitoring the family to ensure no more kids are hurt.
As for my Dad and Grace? Well, they took what I said to heart and finally went public with their relationship. Grace has always been like a Mom to me, and it was not fair to either of them to hide the love and friendship they have. My heart is happy knowing they are happy and content. I hope we can help other families like we helped Evan in getting Thomas back, and know the peace we have.
Sitting on my Dad's front porch, I looked over the file of the Kline family and said to myself, "Now what happened to you all?"
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